The Chicago teachers strike has put a fine point on the split over education reform in today's Democratic Party. In Chi-town, we see a bastion of the Democratic coalition facing off against a Democratic mayor who used to be Obama's chief of staff. Well, for a terrific explanation of how things got so tense, you'd do well to check out the new bookPresident Obama and Education Reform: The Personal and the Political, penned by my AEI colleague Mike McShane and University of Arkansas professor Robert Maranto. (You can also find a terrific commentary on the Obama record and what it means for the fall in Mike's new "Education Outlook," released yesterday by my shop at AEI.)

Now, be forewarned; whereas I'm frequently of two minds on the President's edu-efforts, McShane and Maranto are generally enthusiastic. At the same time, they bring a political scientist's calculation in examining why Obama picked the fights he has and how he's changed the education policy landscape. They pay particularly close attention to the "Nixon goes to China" impact of an African-American, Democratic president embracing charter schooling and teacher evaluation.

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