AP Photo

“That’s not the change America voted for.”

The implied criticism of President Barack Obama comes not from Rush Limbaugh or Fox News but from the AFL-CIO in a newspaper ad last week letting the president and congressional Democrats know unions’ “bottom line for health care reform.”

The unions are calling in their chits. If health care legislation doesn’t include a public option, they won’t support it. And if it does include a tax on so-called gold-plated plans, they’ll oppose it.

No wonder White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has been meeting behind closed doors with Democrats trying to craft a final bill. He’s more afraid of a few union bosses than he is the thousands of voters who have flocked to town...