October 7, 2010 10:26AM 

# While You Were Watching the Race to the Top… 

By [Neal McCluskey](https://www.cato.org/people/neal-mccluskey) 

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…President Obama and Congress were doling out tens-of-billions of dollars to the education status quo while doing [little of meaningful, reform‑y substance](https://www.cato.org/obama-administration-doesnt-walk-the-ed-reform-walk/). Now we see the payoff: President Obama has gotten bipartisan accolades for supposedly being a different kind of Democrat on education — one willing to take on teacher unions — while he’s fully kept union allegiances.

[Reports the *Washington Post* ](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/06/AR2010100603411.html)about National Education Association plans to spend $15 million on largely Dem-friendly, midterm-election advertisements:

> Karen M. White, the NEA’s political director, said the 3.2 million-member union is in sync with Obama more often than not. As an example, she pointed to [his support for a $10 billion education funding bill](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/10/AR2010081004201.html) that the Democratic-led Congress passed in August over Republican opposition.
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> “That education jobs bill got so many of our members engaged,” White said. “It was a turning point for us.”
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> She played down controversy over Obama’s school reform agenda as “bumps in the road,” adding, “we share the same goals as this administration.”

It [really](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10056) [wasn’t](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10160) [hard](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10965) to [see](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11669) the [politics ](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11852)at [play here](https://www.cato.org/obamas-audacity-with-nea-proves-nothing/): Talk a lot about reform, expend riches to protect the status quo, win good will from all sides. And heck, who gets hurt? Only [taxpayers and students](https://www.cato.org/grigori-rasputin-bailout/), that’s all.

##### Related Tags 

[Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) 

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