Fifteen minutes before Illinois Sen. Barack Obama was scheduled to speak yesterday, teachers in the audience were crawling across the floor, trying to get closer to the lectern for a better camera angle.
When the Democratic presidential candidate finally took the stage, cheers from the delegates to the National Education Association were deafening, and nobody booed or hissed when, near the end of a 40-minute appearance, Obama endorsed the idea of merit pay for teachers.
Merit pay is a no-go for most in the teachers union – members say they are concerned it would not be implemented fairly – but Obama softened the blow by promising he would not propose “arbitrary measures” to link pay to performance.
“I want to work with teachers. I’m not going to do it to you, I’m going to do it with you,” the Illinois Democrat told the crowd of 9,000 at the Convention Center. As he spoke, cameras flashed around the hall.