Why Romney Should Back Rahm on Teachers Strike
What if Mitt Romney backed Rahm Emanuel in the Chicago teachers strike? It’s an interesting proposition and one that the Romney campaign, judging by past performance, lacks the imagination to consider. After all, Romney could have been arguing all year that private-equity firms like his Bain Capital get a lot of their money from union pension funds—a point that would help soften the claim that the former Massachusetts governor was somehow anti-worker.
Backing Emanuel would be a similar jujitsu move. Romney would underscore his point—and the one made by Republican governors like Scott Walker of Wisconsin—that public-sector unions are demanding, if not destructive. It’s a way of showing one’s bipartisan credentials if you’re aligning yourself not only with Bill Clinton but one of his longtime aides, a mayor who literally cowrote a book on being a New Democrat. That Emanuel is one of Obama’s top fundraising gurus only makes it more delicious.
The last thing Emanuel needs is a Romney kiss-of-death as he tries to simultaneously tamp down one of the biggest labor actions in years and help his fellow Chicagoan, Barack Obama, get reelected.
Of course, until now, with Illinois a decidedly blue state for 20 years, Romney’s been content to forego fall campaigning in the Land of Lincoln, and he has repeated the GOP slur about Obama engaging in “Chicago-style politics”—whatever that means. (Al Capone? David Axelrod with a Tommy Gun? The Daley Dynasty?)
In his effort to cut right and win the Republican nomination, Romney has seemed incapable of showing his more moderate side. He brought universal health care to Massachusetts and rarely mentions it. That it was the template for "Obamacare" is well known. But now is the time for that pivot to the middle.
Weighing in on behalf of a Democratic mayor would probably annoy some Republicans who loathe Rahmbo to the degree that Democrats can’t stomach Dick Cheney. But pushing away from his own party to endorse a conservative principle about public-sector unions is a bold move. Let’s see if he does it.
