Los Angeles' liberal mayor, always a friend of the Left's special interest, appears to be taking a sudden, sharp turn toward reform politics:

For Antonio Villaraigosa, last week loomed like one big reset button.
On Tuesday, he delivered a speech lambasting the Los Angeles teachers union as a major impediment to school reform. On Wednesday, he defended President Obama's controversial tax compromise, even as other Democrats bayed in opposition. Later that day, he joined other big-city mayors in Chicago to call for the reform of public employee pensions that have hamstrung city budgets.
The three events may be unrelated, accidents of timing. But in politics almost nothing is accidental, so it was hard to believe that the week was not meant to accomplish something for the Los Angeles mayor. The question is what.

The Times wonders whether he is angling for a position in the Obama administration.