Rush Limbaugh said Monday a strike by the 26,000-member Chicago Teachers’ Union was nothing but a ploy to help President Barack Obama’s reelection.
...He and [Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel] will figure this out so they get credit for solving it. Because, I tell you: There is no union that is gonna go on strike right now for the express purpose of harming Barack Obama.”
The union started striking Monday for the first time in a quarter-century after rejecting a contract that offered them a four percent annual pay raise over the next four years. [Ed: 16 percent increase over four years]
...Despite apparent cracks between Emanuel and his old boss, Limbaugh insists it’s all a set-up to get the “media swooning.”
“I’m warning you right now,” he said. “You haven’t seen anything until you see the PR surrounding Obama solving the teacher strike, and then the video of the little kiddies going back to school. They’re gonna be singing Obama songs.”
Then White House advisor -- and now Chicago Mayor -- Rahm Emanuel is infamous for stating, "Never let a crisis go to waste."
There is no public sector union in the country that would go on strike if it would hurt Obama's reelection chances in any way.
Do the math.
Image: Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis, via Michelle Malkin.
7 comments:
Michelle Obama and the Chicago teachers' strike.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151323410460817
Michelle Obama and the Chicago teachers' strike.
http://thelookingspoon.com/index.php/september-2012/3857-teachers-in-chicago-exemplify-the-chicago-spirit-not-the-american-way
A setup? Anything's possible, I suppose, but it seems to me teacher's unions might be feeling a little like an ugly date Democratic politicians are embarrassed to acknowledge publicly. Besides, unions are about as easy to lead along as a herd of cats. Harry Truman was forced to go head-to-head with the railroad unions, for example, and it wasn't pretty and it surely wasn't a setup designed to make Truman look good.
Lastly, the Romney campaign--in the person of Paul Ryan--is making all sorts of very public hay over this strike. Every minute the Romney campaign gets to exploit this issue is a plus for the GOP.
So yeah, if Obama descends from the clouds and brokers an instant agreement, sure, it was a setup, but if that was the Machiavellian master plan, he had better do it soon.
It seems this would not be a positive for Obama since these are the types of jobs his stimulus ventures propose to create. Their greed and indifference to the fact that there are millions unemployed or under-employed that would love to make a portion of what these union stooges make. And then there is their indifference to the needs of their students.
Unfortunately a setup seems likely - that would certainly explain why it is happening in Rahm's town instead of, say, Wisconsin.
I would like to think that it's just a matter of "holy crap, in a few months the party's over so we better get what we can now!" but a few things don't make sense. Maybe in some of the purple-turning-red states, but the party is going to keep going on in Chicago for a long time.
Main thing - it's in Chicago, Obama's home turf. If He could pull off something like this anywhere, it would be there. Then there was the 16% raise that was offered and turned down - most unions would have snapped that up, but making such a good offer gives the unions the ability to put on a show, get "smacked back into line" by the all-powerful Obama (showing His authority, decisiveness, and that He does not cave to the unions), and still end up with a lucrative deal after being "forced" to accept what they were offered. Cap it off with a few nights of national prime-time news stories showing little kids shedding tears of joy at finally being allowed to go to school again because of how wonderful Obama is, and even though it will have been the most "transparent" move made by the most transparent administration in history, most people will probably fall for it.
Unfortunately a setup seems likely - that would certainly explain why it is happening in Rahm's town instead of, say, Wisconsin.
I would like to think that it's just a matter of "holy crap, in a few months the party's over so we better get what we can now!" but a few things don't make sense. Maybe in some of the purple-turning-red states, but the party is going to keep going on in Chicago for a long time.
Main thing - it's in Chicago, Obama's home turf. If He could pull off something like this anywhere, it would be there. Then there was the 16% raise that was offered and turned down - most unions would have snapped that up, but making such a good offer gives the unions the ability to put on a show, get "smacked back into line" by the all-powerful Obama (showing His authority, decisiveness, and that He does not cave to the unions), and still end up with a lucrative deal after being "forced" to accept what they were offered. Cap it off with a few nights of national prime-time news stories showing little kids shedding tears of joy at finally being allowed to go to school again because of how wonderful Obama is, and even though it will have been the most "transparent" move made by the most transparent administration in history, most people will probably fall for it.
Unfortunately a setup seems likely - that would certainly explain why it is happening in Rahm's town instead of, say, Wisconsin.
I would like to think that it's just a matter of "holy crap, in a few months the party's over so we better get what we can now!" but a few things don't make sense. Maybe in some of the purple-turning-red states, but the party is going to keep going on in Chicago for a long time.
Main thing - it's in Chicago, Obama's home turf. If He could pull off something like this anywhere, it would be there. Then there was the 16% raise that was offered and turned down - most unions would have snapped that up, but making such a good offer gives the unions the ability to put on a show, get "smacked back into line" by the all-powerful Obama (showing His authority, decisiveness, and that He does not cave to the unions), and still end up with a lucrative deal after being "forced" to accept what they were offered. Cap it off with a few nights of national prime-time news stories showing little kids shedding tears of joy at finally being allowed to go to school again because of how wonderful Obama is, and even though it will have been the most "transparent" move made by the most transparent administration in history, most people will probably fall for it.
Unfortunately a setup seems likely - that would certainly explain why it is happening in Rahm's town instead of, say, Wisconsin.
I would like to think that it's just a matter of "holy crap, in a few months the party's over so we better get what we can now!" but a few things don't make sense. Maybe in some of the purple-turning-red states, but the party is going to keep going on in Chicago for a long time.
Main thing - it's in Chicago, Obama's home turf. If He could pull off something like this anywhere, it would be there. Then there was the 16% raise that was offered and turned down - most unions would have snapped that up, but making such a good offer gives the unions the ability to put on a show, get "smacked back into line" by the all-powerful Obama (showing His authority, decisiveness, and that He does not cave to the unions), and still end up with a lucrative deal after being "forced" to accept what they were offered. Cap it off with a few nights of national prime-time news stories showing little kids shedding tears of joy at finally being allowed to go to school again because of how wonderful Obama is, and even though it will have been the most "transparent" move made by the most transparent administration in history, most people will probably fall for it.
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