And those were the polite ones, who were otherwise impressed with Obama. “I can’t imagine if he were informed he would come before 10,000 people and say what he said,” says New Jersey Education Association President Joyce Powell. ~Ruth Marcus

This is to misunderstand Obama, as Marcus notes.  It isn’t as if Obama doesn’t know that merit pay is unpopular with teachers’ unions.  He knows full well that it is.  He seems to have a strategy of saying unpopular things to interest groups in the hope of proving that his “transformation” of politics is not just a slogan–not that he otherwise has much more to offer than rhetorical jabs at entrenched interests.  So he goes to Detroit and bashes automakers, and now tells teachers’ unions what they do not want to hear.  No one will say that he is beholden to this or that lobby!  (When he appeared at AIPAC, though, his adherence to the appropriate script was complete–there are some lobbies with which you simply do not play the game of being Mr. Above It All.)  In the end, he will probably find himself not winning a lot of endorsements, either.