Defending him on teacher's strike, Ryan pits Emanuel against Obama

Paul Ryan

/ AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

(CBS News) The two may agree on little else in the political realm, but vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan on Monday threw his support to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel over his battle with the Chicago teacher's union, simultaneously using the opportunity to draw a line between President Obama and his former chief of staff over a contentious policy issue.

Emanuel, President Obama's chief of staff from 2009-2010, is locked in a bitter struggle with Chicago's powerful union over negotiations surrounding a new contract, and Tuesday marks the second day of strikes by approximately 26,000 teachers.

According to the Associated Press, about 11,000 students attended 144 schools kept open by the district, and approximately 7,000 more participated in activities at places like churches and libraries.

At a fundraiser in Portland, Oregon Monday night, Ryan called the strike "unnecessary and wrong" and said that he would "stand" with the outspoken Democratic mayor.

"I've known Rahm Emanuel for years," Ryan said. "He's a former colleague of mine. Rahm and I have not agreed on every issue or on a lot of issues, but Mayor Emanuel is right today in saying that this teacher's union strike is unnecessary and wrong. We know that Rahm is not going to support our campaign, but on this issue and this day we stand with Mayor Rahm Emanuel."

Among the concessions Emanuel is demanding from the union, according to the New York Times, are tenure evaluations based on student test performance and the annulment of a promise for a 4 percent raise. Teachers, meanwhile, are pushing for provisions to reinstate teachers who work in schools that have been shut down.

"We stand with the children and we stand with the families and the parents of Chicago because education reform, that's a bipartisan issue," said Ryan. "This does not have to divide the two parties."

Despite his rhetoric, Ryan quickly pivoted to attacks on Mr. Obama, whom he accused of being "ambiguous," and whom Ryan suggested sides with "the union" over "children and parents."

"Where does President Obama stand?" Ryan asked. "Does he stand with his former Chief of Staff Mayor Rahm Emanuel, with the children and the parents, or does he stand with the union? On issues like this, we need to speak out and be really clear. In a Romney-Ryan administration we will not be ambiguous, we will stand with education reform, we will champion bipartisan education reforms."

He added: "This is a critical lynchpin to the future of our country, to our economy, to make sure that our children go to the best possible school, and that education reforms revolve around the parents and the child, not the special interest group. This is something that's critical for all of us."

Mr. Obama has not directly addressed the Chicago strike, but he has both supported unions in the past and supported policies that upset them. On Monday, Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt mocked Romney's newfound status as Chicago's "biggest cheerleader after attacking it for the past year" and for "apparently believ[ing] that fewer teachers and larger classrooms is the solution to education challenges."

Still, the strike poses a political conundrum for the president just weeks before a presidential election in which it will rely heavily on the financial and organizing support o the union.

On Monday, Romney accused the president of siding with teachers who were turning their backs on students, a comment Emanuel quickly wrote off as "lip service."

[marychgo]

Gee, Paul, thanks for clarifying things! Your endorsement is yet ANOTHER reason for the majority of Chicagoans, who SUPPORT the Chicago Teachers Union, NOT to vote for Romney/Ryan!

[Saul_Mon]

Big deal, New York City has more people than all of Canada. Can't make a comparison. Try giving everyone an asprin and then compare total cost! Your scale doesn't balance.

[Saul_Mon]

Fire those greedy DOLTS! $70,000 Min. for 9 months of baby sitting. SHAME ON THEM!!!

[sweetcakesmaria]

Romney/Ryan was for it before they were against it. Lets see how long it will take before they flip flop.

[rharrin1]

Ryan is just trying to turn Detroit into another Wisconsin.

[AOCGUY]

Detroit? What the heck does Detroit have to do with this?

[matt6052]

I am just so sick of Chicago.

And let's not forget that in fact children learn every day of their lives, regardless of whether they are in school or not. Formal education only makes people more independent, which of course is desirable. But when Columbus landed here, he discovered a continent that had been populated for thousands of years by people who didn't have union teachers or even school houses.

The extra time out of classroom right now is just like an extended summer vacation. It disrupts no lesson plans or progess.

[GoUnion86]

Hey Paul, don't try to make it sound like republicans and democrats are joining together on this one. Republicans always stand against labor, whether it's unionized or not.

[mountainstates1]

Wow! You mean Ryan and Romney don't stand with teachers (or firefighters and police officers for that matter)?? I'm shocked! Who would've thought these two idiots would be against the middle class??? Losers...

[hhandyman]

How many of those teachers have a second job in Congress or did they just follow T party example and stomp their feet in protest like a brat that wont take instructions.

[rayward73446]

When Ryan agrees with what you are doing, you know for sure that it's time to switch sides, and stop doing what you were doing. The strike is legal and it's time we valued teachers for the job they do, not the politicians for the job they don't do.

[AOCGUY]

First of all Ryan is simply playing politics. I know it, he knows it, he just hopes nobody else does. Now I don't know if the teachers' complaints are legitimate or not. I checked their salaries and they are paid very well compared to teachers where I live BUT it is far more expensive to live in Chicago than it does down here in the south so they may have a point on that. There are other issues and I'm sure they are important as well. As for the Mayor, we all know him to be a liberal democrat but the fact is that he has a fiduciary responsibility to all residents of the city and whether he likes it or not he does have to balance services with the costs of providing those services and teaching is one of those. I don't envy his task but then again he wanted the job. I do hope and pray that for the students and teachers sake they can all come to a reasonable resolution. Irresponsible comments suggesting firing the teachers is just that irresponsible and I suspect were made by persons not having kids in the Chicago school system.