Earth to Obama – Unions MADE The Democratic Party
By SusanUnPC on December 23, 2007 at 10:21 PM in Clinton, Democrats, John Edwards, Obama, Presidential Candidates
By CAMPSKUNK :: Re-posted from Daily Kos, with campskunk’s permission
Senator Barack Obama’s advisors had a major brainfart and apparently forgot what party they’re supposedly members of with their latest stunt. Not only are they highlighting his failure to gain the support of the labor unions (the backbone and workhorses of our party), but now he’s using that failure in his latest funding appeal to his supporters.
The “if you don’t support Obama you’re the enemy” meme started when Paul Krugman for daring to criticize his half-assed health care reform plan has expanded and metastasized. Opposition research, twisted and misquoted words… it’s starting to look CREEPy in the Obama campaign (joke for you old-timers and Watergate aficionados).
And now this? Obama’s campaign is attacking labor unions, teachers and EMILY’S LIST. They back the “wrong candidate” and are working to help get their chosen Democrat elected, and he goes on the attack with a backhanded slur against the core of the Democratic Party.
What is wrong with Obama? There’s a serious disconnect between his view of the party and our longstanding “big tent” approach to a coalition.
Both Hillary & Edwards have managed to attract the support of labor unions representing millions of working Americans.
When you add up the number of endorsements Hillary’s gotten over the last year, those unions represent some six million workers. That’s saying something regarding her record and her plans to further the cause of American workers.
I am AFSCME. We are the face and heart of the Democratic Party. During the Florida recount, AFSCME was a major supporter- and a major component- of the demonstrators. Here’s what we look like:
But now, in the sour grapes that comes from being rejected by the major unions, Obama is saying that those unions are the bad guys – that they represent everything that’s wrong with our country.
Of course, I’m sure he wasn’t saying all this when he was courting their endorsement over the last 8 months or so. But Obama’s known for changing his mind, it seems.
Mark Halprin posted the following memo from the Obama camp earlier today – take a look:
|
“Right now groups supporting Hillary Clinton and John Edwards are flooding Iowa and the other early states with millions of dollars in paid ads, phone calls, and mailings. Some of it is negative and even deceptive, and a lot of it is paid for by huge, unregulated contributions from special interests. Taking on these groups isn’t just a matter of setting the record straight about me or my positions. It’s about proving that a new kind of campaign – funded by ordinary people who want something better for all of us – can defeat the same tired, old political textbook that so many Americans just don’t trust anymore.” |
…and Halperin includes the following data…
|
So who is Obama talking about? Here is the most up-to-date independent expenditure information in Iowa.
For Hillary Clinton AFSCME: $907,177.24 For John Edwards Working for Working Americans/Carpenter s: $516,216.51 Total: $1,277,017.51 |
(emphasis mine)
He goes on to beg for donations, calling Emily’s List, teachers unions, carpenters, SEIU and AFSCME “Special Interests“, like they’re something evil and dirty or working to undo what we’ve accomplished in the area of worker’s rights, social justice, and other areas over the years.
Obama wants to be the party’s standard-bearer in next year’s general election, and he not only failed to garner the support of these stalwart Democratic allies, but he’s attacking them in an effort to generate campaign contributions.
This, on top of Obama’s attacks on and distortions regarding Paul Krugman’s opinion of the healthcare reform plans out there, makes me begin to wonder how closely aligned Obama really is with the Democratic Party and progressive values. It’s one thing to try to win a primary, but it shouldn’t be at the cost of abandoning what the Democratic Party stands for.
I am AFSCME. I am not a “special interest”. I stand with the party. Where does Obama stand?
By CAMPSKUNK :: Re-posted from Daily Kos, with campskunk’s permission
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“Where does [Senator] Obama stand?”
Great question? This belies the Senator’s rhetorical pronouncements of a different kind of politics, and slaps the organized representatives of working families—who have been repeatedly kicked in the teeth by this administration—and, to what end?
I worked alongside SEIU and AFSCME members early in the Dean campaign, and was impressed with their dedication, organizational skills and motivation.
“Taking on these groups…” What? Organized labor is the now the enemy of democracy? An anathema to progress? And, represents the “…same tired, old political textbook?”
Senator, you lost me at “Right now…”
You are forgetting Rove offered him some advice. You did not think he would take it?
Sen. Obama just can’t help stepping on his, umm, ego, now can he? What in the world makes a Democrat running for national office think that dismissing the unions as another special interest is a good idea? He sounds more like a Republican every day.
Like I said before, this is the refrain of the oppressed. ” Trust no one”…that is the message of fear not “the audacity of hope.”
(”Only I did not say fuuuddggeee. I said the word.”) A Christmas Story
Suspect that Democrats, will find that the more they get to know Senator Obama, they less they like him.(Kinda like the Rudy thing for the Republicans) Maybe it will all work out anyway because he has Oprah, who doesn’t support unions either, to get him all kinds of media attention. Don’t ask if the American people are really that stupid, because you know damn well that many of them are. After all there are millions of people that voted for George Bush twice. And there is no evidence that all morons vote Republican. Just most.
While I’ve been rooting for Edwards, Clinton locked up my union’s endorsement early (AFT). That said, she’s been pretty to very good on education. By contrast, Obama yaps endlessly about merit pay for public school teachers.
Here’s the research evidence: In plans that pit teacher against teacher for merit pay, the strongest predictor whether or not a public school teacher receives merit pay is the strength of their relationship with the building principal–not the quality of their teaching. So, if you’re a suck up, you’ll get merit pay. Merit pay plans that focus on individual teachers also tend to destroy teacher collegiality–which is a critical component of successful school.
Other plans including those that reward the entire school’s staff (including the janitors and cafeteria workers) tend to generate better outcomes in student learning. But these are far less popular with politicians.
Given the influence of the AFT and the NEA in the democratic party, Obama’s attack on unions and teachers’ unions in particular, looks politially stupid. I think Obama is yet another pretty face, like Romney, who wants to be prez.
Obama is saying that those unions are the bad guys – that they represent everything that’s wrong with our country.
The union members or the leadership?
I know union members who have plenty to say about the direction their leaders have taken them in recent years.
I agree that sometimes union leadership takes a wrong turn — I’ve had some negative experiences with two unions in my working life, but for different reasons: one adopted such ridiculous Catch-22 type rules that it made it nearly impossible for me to join, and I had really wanted to. The other union, which I did not want to join, wouldn’t leave me alone. Not all unions operate the same! I may have missed out on getting hired for a job I really wanted precisely because I didn’t come off as being sufficiently “pro-union”. But, in fact I still strongly support the labor movement, especially unions like SEIU.
One of my best friends ran for president of her local last year and the (then) president and his minions ran one of the dirtiest tricks campaigns against her I’ve ever seen! She lost by only 19 votes (less than 1%). Which only goes to show that her union needs her kind of vision and leadership. The experience has not at all soured her on unions, but only against the prevailing (self-serving) leadership. I hope she’ll run again next time because I believe she will win.
I can’t look inside Obama’s mind and know what he was really thinking when he made those comments, but someone with his brains should know that running as a Democrat and then going on the warpath against unions, or any groups in the broader labor movement, is political suicide! It’s just dumber than dumb. He set himself up for some ridicule over this one.
obama is right. unions are killing this country, espeically the teachers unions. krugman is a socialist who is right about the war and not much else.
“I stand with the party.”
lol
You must be a Hillary supporter. Linking Obama with Rove?
Fork you, ya piece of sheit.
davis13: Happy Hillidays to you too.
You must be a Hillary supporter. NOPE. I am one of those poor souls without a “candiddate to date”. But as a member of a union and as of Jan 1 2008, the president of my chapter and a negotiator for my members, I can tell you personally that your statement:
“obama is right. unions are killing this country”
is what the pocket lint from the laundry of a corporate mouthpiece might say.
In past few years I have worked to among other things;
1) To not have medical benefits taken away from retired members. Why? Because I can’t not bargain in good faith with the lives of those without representation.
2) Negotiated to maintain healthcare benefits of our chapter members in spite of incredible pressures from management to trade cost of living raises for this.
3) Worked to reduce work place injuries by making sure our members have the right occupational equipment to do their work.
4) Sought to increase our work force to ensure that our members are not being taken advantage of by doing work that is outside the scope of their job description.
I could go on but would be the point? What is killing this country are not unions. What is killing this country is ignorance, apathy, indifference, poverty and greed, lest you forget about the Tiny Tim’s among us.
I know sarcastic humor does not translate well on paper sometimes, but you could have the intellectual curiosity to ask if I joking before revealing to world you are evidence of what, as you say is, is killing America. Second, while I am not a Hillary “supporter”, I am honor bound not to pass judgment on her because her husband, while president, personally met with and assisted in helping my dad and stepmother in getting their medical claims paid. They both died from cancer, sadly, anyway. So while your mommy might not have raised you to know what it takes to be a man, I sure hope she would have taught you not call any woman what you did. Peace be upon you and yours.
Davis13…..where in the world have you been? Rove and Obama are linked together! Wake Up! Rove sent Obama a memo telling him how to form a strateigy to beat Hillary! Why do you think Rove would do that?
1. Obama will lie down in bed with Republicans? 2. Rove would rather go against Obama in the general election….lol….they will choke him out….and Republicans will maintain the White House.
If that is ok with you… then stay in the Dark and vote Obama.
Personally? I think Hillary Clinton is a c*nt and I will never vote for that worthless skank.
And I absolutely hate the Republican party.
You morons who want her as the Democratic candidate are fools. The pubes would love to energize their base with that forking beotch and all the baggage that comes with her a Bill. She is the one person who could hand the election to the opposition.
Just nasty words, without an iota of rational explanation or proof.
I’ve seen this phenomenon many times — you got bit by the rightwingers like Limbaugh and O’Reilly. They pass on a deadly form of rabies that affects the reasoning centers of the brain.
The cure: Step back, and ask why you’d call her names. Then read her biography at Wikipedia, for starters. You probably won’t because you don’t think there’s anything to learn. But it’d surprise you.
the “c” word is simply beyond the pale.
if this were my website you would get one warning. the second offense your comment would be deleted and you would be banned.
wethornet
he who has a mother (who raised him properly), sisters, a wife, a daughter, several female friends.
ps. the “n” word, applied to obama, colin powell, condi, or anyone else is also beyond the pale.
Davis13, is vulgar and generalized ad hominem attacks all you have to offer? Don’t you have any specific criticism of Hillary’s record in the Senate, or perhaps her policy statements? Do you even have anything specific about the way she conducts her personal life, or do you just have vulgar personal epithets to offer?
Why would I call her names? I disliked that beotch back when Bill was president. What she’s done since then has only reinforced it. I had quite enough of Clinton before this election.
And my opinion doesn’t come from brain-dead, fascist Republican DHs like O’Reilly or Limpnuts.
To tell the truth I have no use for Hillary Clinton’s Democratic version of Lee Atwater election techniques. The more “Obama’s a drug dealing, nigg*r Muslim” that she and her machine puts out the more I dispise her. I am sick and tired of her and her Republican lite, war mongering, corporate whore allies in congress.
’nuff said
Awwwww…. sorry to offend your senses. What Hillary Clinton puts out on Obama is even worse. Oh she doesn’t swear like a sailor, like Republican holy rollers she uses language that doesn’t cross that “line”. I guess I shouldn’t have referred to the nigg*r Muslim smear Clinton’s team put out.
[...] a nutshell, with a tip to Campskunk’s post: Both Hillary Clinton and John Edwards have received considerable support from unions. Obama has [...]
davis13, if you’ve been reading here at nq i don’t like her either.
i respect that your opinion of her wasn’t formed by gop knuckleheads; the woman’s been around since ‘92; there’s a long record. for me, i am “severely underwhelmed.” h*ll i was “inside the beltway” for and saw her and bill “up close and personal.” (see my comments just below this re billary and unions.)cuss her ’til the cows come home, and i may join you, but, i say again, imj, the “c” is beyond the pale.
i will also tell you that many women i know have a VISCERAL reaction to anyone using the “c” word. word to wise.
wethornet, who can drop the “f” bomb, and cuss and fuss with the best of them.
It is beyond the pale. It betrays a sexist attitude. We women have been denigrated enough. And Hillary Clinton gets held to a higher standard because she is a woman … and that’s something only another woman can see. This woman sees it clearly.
WetHornet is correct. Davis13, you’ve been warned. And that goes for the “b–ch” word too. It’s sexist and immature. One more, and you’re out of here.
As soon as a man starts throwing around that word I stop listening to him, because that flagrant lack of respect for me results in an immediate loss of respect for him. The obsession with using that word as a weapon is one of the main reasons I quit visiting and commenting at a certain blog last year…
Again, sorry for using shark bait in an attempt at sarcastic humor. I am embarrassed about it.
Comment by TeakWoodKite | 2007-12-24 13:17:03
should read, word to the wise.
~~~~
all, susan and i have a great relationship, and i think very highly of her. we do not concur on hillary; not a big deal.
susan, because i am fastidious and persnickety about the truth…
1. “unions made the dem. party” will come as news to thomas jefferson and andrew jackson.
2. i was “inside the beltway” during the billary era. one of the first things they did was shove nafta down the union’s throats. the angry white male in the ‘94 gop revolution election was the union member who stayed home, who didn’t do phone banks, etc.
3. (this is a judgement, not a fact. as for the the democratic party’s relationship with unions…in the past however many years,[since reagan and patco air traffic controllers at least], it all too often reminds me of that army expression: “bohica.” bend over, here it comes again.)
4. andrew jackson fought, tenaciously, unapologetically, for working class americans; men were still voting for “old hickory” twenty years after he died. i reckon that won’t happen with bill.
5. my congressmen, a r, won by about 60 votes back in 2000 on a nasty, rainy day. he crowed, he exulted, “my base will turn out in earthquakes.” that happens when you take care of your base instead of sh*tting on them.
>>> …it’s starting to look CREEPy
Aw, Sue, you little darlin’, you made my laid-off-by-Republicans, damned-if-it-ain’t-another-Bush Recession-and-I’m unemployed day!
‘Scuse me, while I stick another pin in my John Mitchell doll (”What? He’s already DEAD?!?!?”) and throw some brown Silly Putty on my autographed picture of Clark McGregor.
From the April Glaspie School of International Understanding, I remain,
Fred
“This is the country where the nuggets of gold are just crying out for you to take them out of the ground and make ‘em shine in coins on the fingers and necks of swell dames.” – Fred C. Dobbs
I just came upon this. The leadership IS the problem
Unionists Slam “Hypocritical” Leaders for Anti-Obama Mailer »
——————————————————————————–
December 21, 2007 02:01 PM
Union members in Illinois and Iowa are denouncing their national leaders as hypocrites for sending out a deceptive campaign mailer aimed this week at Barack Obama. They are livid that the political arm of their 1.4 million member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) financed a mailer to Iowa voters slamming Obama for opposing individual health care mandates – the same sort of mandates long opposed by the union.
“This is definitely hypocritical, absolutely,” said Carter Woodruff,…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
I have a little story about union leadership. Btw, I’m not a union member.
I protested the WTO in Seattle. We marched from their stadium into town.
People were becoming very anxious while waiting for the union leaders to physically get to the front line of the march.
One woman near me was listening to her radio and began to cry as she screamed “Our children are being beaten downtown!”
The hell with waiting. We started on as others tried to block us.
We reached a certain point in town and the so-called leaders directed everyone to go in another direction.
It was only the MEMBERS of the teamsters and longshoremen that headed with us to face the gas and the police.
Thanks for holding the vigil, Cee.
As for other comments:
“…i was “inside the beltway” during the billary era. one of the first things they did was shove nafta down the union’s throats.”
Which Newt and the repub revolution quickly overturned, no?
No.
In fact NAFTA was left on the table from Bush Sr. that doesn’t make it any less a travesty in terms of what it did to the manufacture industry.
everybody, if you’re busy with the holidays, please file this article away to read later. it is poignant and a very sad commentary on the state of america.
short version: some dentist in kentucky — remember we have lt. col. mike horne running against mitch mcconnell — has an 18 wheel truck he converted into a dental lab and he goes around the hollers of the hills of the bluegrass state providing dentistry.
1 in 10 kentuckians under 65 has no teeth. worst in the nation. next door west virginia is worst in the nation for over 65 years old and teeth. this is just staggering!
downblog i mentioned joe bageant’s “deer hunting w jesus” book. he is talking about sh*t like this; it is one of the 2 or 3 most important books out there.
simply unf*ckingbelievable. and mitt romney doesn’t think there are 2 americas. jesus wept.
In Kentucky’s Teeth, Toll of Poverty and Neglect
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/24/us/24kentucky.html?ref=us
It would be a good candidate to apply a ” medical empowerment zone” to. Attracting medical services where poverty exists is something that the fed tax laws could help never mind the state…
Why isn’t pork restricted to humanitian endevours and the commonwealth?
Woo hoo! Redstate booted me too. Since Larry’s site has decided to swiftboat anyone for the Democratic nomination that ISN’T Hillary Clinton I don’t care. I give no quarter. I call them how I see them.
I still hate Clinton, Hillary and Bill. Mr and Mrs NAFTA, it takes a village. Nothing you say can make me like her. I voted straight Democratic ticket last election too. I am embarassed by the Democrats choices for president. Kerry “REPORTING FOR DUTY” was about the worse since Dukakkus. Hillary Clinton is another stupid god damned choice from those god damned morons who run the god damned Democratic party. You think they’d learn their lesson, but nooooOOoooo, they have to nominate the queen of politcal mean, the candidate most likely to unite everyone against the Democrats. Leona Helmsly has nothing on Clinton. No way in hell do I want that divisive, braying ass as president. You fools want to put up the worse possible candidate and act like she is the ONLY choice. Screw you morons. The Democrats have been wrong sooooo many times it’s ridiculous. I listen to that woman and it makes me want to wretch. And as far as the union angle? I was a member of the Carpenter’s union too.
I listen to Obama and I have hope. It’s been a loooong time since ANY politician gave me hope.
Hillary Clinton is the worse candidate possible. Half of Democrats hate her already and the rest of the country absolutely dispises her, including me.
Still nothing specific, eh, Davis? Gee, if I hadn’t already decided against Hillary Clinton based very specifically on her very poor record on Iraq, foreign policy in general, international law, international human rights, Israel, and military policy, I might be tempted to take a second look at her, just based on your nasty, generalized, and – dare I say it? – utterly useless remarks.
As for Obama, again, you don’t provide any specific reasons that Obama gives you hope. Hope for what, specifically? Hope based on what, specifically? I would LOVE some reason to hope, so provide it, please!
As much as humans need ‘hope’ to help rationalize their lot in life, it has never put food on the table.
Hate and Hope you say?
I voted straight Democratic ticket last election too.
Not one other candidate caught your eye?
Davis –
Perhaps if you post your phone number and other contact information, the national polls (that show Hillary at the head of the pack) will be able to contact you so that your viewpoint may be taken into consideration by the apparently incompetent pollsters. Those polls seem to keep missing the half of the Democrats and the rest of the country that you say hate and despise Hillary.
~~~~~~~
Mr. Murder, first let me say that over the many months I have richly enjoy your comments. Second, I think we got our wires crossed.
I know NAFTA was left on the table from Bush, Sr. I know that Newtie and da Boys did nothing to overturn it. (Wrt manufacturing: we have been destroying our manufacturing base since the 1970’s.)
My point was that Billary by pushing NAFTA so hard screwed over their base. Quite simply, w/o labor the Clintons would never have left Arkansas. And their actions came back to bite the party in the a*s in ‘94 and after. Clinton could have left NAFTA until the next GOP President came along.
Under Bill and Hillary’s stewardship from 1992 to 2000 the party lost:
* 6 Senate seats.
* 46 Congressional seats.
* 9 Governorships.
It’s a f*cking disaster!
http://www.paulloeb.org/articles/HillaryDisappointment.html
Paul Rogat Loeb. Author of “Soul of a Citizen:
Living With Conviction in a Cynical Time.”
Mr. Murder, hope that clears things up. Best.
Woo hoo! Redstate booted me too. Since Larry’s site has decided to swiftboat anyone for the Democratic nomination that ISN’T Hillary Clinton I don’t care. I give no quarter. I call them how I see them.
davis13, newsflash for ya. please see larry’s recent entry, “am i a hillary cheerleader?” he stated that he prefers john edwards. susan for hillary. larry for edwards.
hate ‘em all you want. just don’t use the “c” word. and now — per susan — the “b” word.
as will rogers said, “i belong to no organized party. i’m a democrat.”
could be worse, could be a rethuglican.
Have you seen the “Has Barack Let You Down Yet?” gear at cafepress …..the backlash is already starting…even Republicans can have some fun on Jan 2oth with this stuff. I’ll link my name to it for anyone who wants to get some.