Mitt Romney’s running mate Paul Ryan crossed party lines this morning to voice his support, saying “we stand with Mayor Rahm Emanuel,” in the fight against the striking teachers’ union. Um, he chose the wrong time to cross party lines. How many opportunities has he had in Congress to show his willingness to reach across the aisle and work with President Obama? Well, like Rahm Emanuel said of Mitt Romney backing his hard-line stance in the strike — nothing more than “lip service.”

“If you turned on the TV this morning or sometime today, you probably saw something about the Chicago teacher’s union strike,” Ryan said at fundraiser at the Governor Hotel here. “I’ve known Rahm Emanuel for years. 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.”

“We stand with the children and we stand with the families and the parents of Chicago because education reform, that’s a bipartisan issue,” Ryan continued. “This does not have to divide the two parties. And so, we were going to ask, where does President Obama stand? 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.” Source

Rahm Emanuel, who was President Obama’s chief of staff, is one of his biggest and most visible supporters, so naturally he would scoff at Mitt Romney’s olive branch Monday afternoon saying he backs his stance. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are trying to tie President Obama to the strike. The problem is, it’s a local matter that should be handled as such. It could be problematic for Obama if they view it from his association with unions. Forgotten in all this political posturing are the 400,000 mostly black and Latino students caught in the line of fire.

This article was cross-posted from The Hinterland Gazette.