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  • John H. White/Sun-Times

No sooner had the teachers called their strike than in came the calls, texts, and e-mails, running a little like this: Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha—you lost the bet!

God, I can’t stand gloaters—unless, of course, I’m doing the gloating.

I was dumb enough to bet untold numbers of people that there would be no strike. At stake was lunch. If there’s a strike, I pay. No strike, they pay.

I made this bet with so many teachers that I’m almost starting to think they called the strike just to get a free lunch out of me.

In my defense, I predicted no strike because I presumed that—this being an election year—President Obama would step in to keep Mayor Emanuel from doing something stupid to force one. I presumed this ’cause I thought the president wanted to get reelected.