Well, well, well, it appears Chicago teachers are on the same page as their Wisconsin brethern were for nearly two years. No event is so solemn that they can't exploit it for their own selfish reasons. But the Chicago story has an element the Wisconsin story didn't and it's a very important one. This dispute pits Democrats against themselves. Governor Quinn hasn't taken a position in the strike, nor has President Obama. 

Obviously, they don't want to complicate things for fellow lib Rahm Emanuel, who is the teacher's villian in this story. After all, after vilifying Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who do they support the teachers union this time without de facto opposing Emanuel. In some ways, this conflict is bigger to the future of education reform than the one in Wisconsin; the sides here were well defined. Chicago represents what the education establishment feared most out of the Wisconsin experiments; liberals recognizing something has to give in education reform. In that sense, defeating Emanuel is even more important for the education establishment than defeating Walker was, even if what Emanuel is asking is pretty meager compared with Act 10.