Obama and education cont.

Some of the pundits (including David Brooks, as linked below in Laura'a post) are speculating that whoever Obama picks for Secretary Of Education will show whether he's truly dedicated to education reform, or whether he will allow the teacher's unions -- which unanimously supported him during the general election -- to have more of a say in how to govern education reform in America.
Obama is under tremendous pressure from many of the big unions that gave his campaign millions of dollars for mailers and get out the vote activites and organized it's members, to show an acknowledgement to that support with high government appointments in his administration.
So far, nearly all of Obama's choices for the posts within his administration have been safe picks, intellectuals, Democratic Party heavyweights, moderates and pragmatists. Education may simply be no different.
Certainly s safe, union driven pick won't generate any huge amount of bad press, (David Brooks may be a little mad though) but it won't cause his white house very much grief and could keep a core and powerful constituency happy.
Secretary of Education is generally seen as a low post on the totem pole of cabinet picks, and most individuals in this role have wielded little true power over the direction of the education system in America, mostly due to polarizing fights in both congress and more locally on the right direction of education in America.
Obama had pledged throughout the campaign that he wanted American schools to be "competitive" with other schools throughout the world, and pledged to make the American education system "first class." However, Obama has backed off on what he calls "heated campaign rhetoric" before and this may be an opportunity for him to make another safe pick, keep a constituency happy, and focus more on the big picture of the crumbling American economy.
However, Obama has proven to be unpredictible before, and appointing a known reformer with more left-leaning credentials could show the country that he is focused on making education reform in America a top issue, and would also be keeping to a campaign theme that special interests would not control his white house.