2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumLabor Unions Hold Back On Endorsements For Hillary
Labor leaders are playing hard to get with Hillary Clinton in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Many of the nations top unions are sitting on the sidelines, content to let Clinton sweat it out while they withhold endorsements.
Some labor officials are frustrated with Clinton for not coming to their aid in the fight over trade legislation in Congress, while others are skeptical of her commitment to their issues.
The face of the labor movement, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, has not endorsed Clinton while seemingly courting her biggest rivals in the Democratic primaries: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Vice President Biden, who is weighing a run for president.
Say youre in love with a girl and want to marry her. Shes playing it cool. So you figure the best way to make her jealous is to flirt with someone else, said Democratic strategist Brad Bannon.
more...
http://thehill.com/regulation/labor/252823-labor-unions-hold-back-on-endorsements-for-hillary
PatrickforO
(14,578 posts)Maybe Trumka has looked around lately and discovered how badly damaged the labor movement is from so-called 'free trade,' and has decided maybe the unions ought to support someone who is REALLY pro-union.
antigop
(12,778 posts)virtualobserver
(8,760 posts)Say youre in love with a girl and want to marry her. Shes playing it cool. So you figure the best way to make her jealous is to flirt with someone else,
Hillary-us.....
WillyT
(72,631 posts)"Labor Day is kind of a pivot for all kinds of political actions during a campaign year," she said. "I think there will be a number of other unions that will be endorsing, but they have to make those decisions. Whatever timetable they pursue."
She lauded her own history as a strong advocate for organized labor and added, "I'm not taking anything for granted. I'm going to work hard to win as much support as I possibly can."
Labor unions have for years been a core bloc of the Democratic coalition, spending millions of dollars each election cycle for advertising and grassroots organizing.
But labor officials feel burned by the Obama administrations handling of trade, and are upset Clinton did not take a clear stance against the trade promotion authority bill (TPA) that passed Congress this summer.
From article at OP.
bvar22
(39,909 posts)Oh Yeah.
THAT is why the Unions are with holding their endorsements..... to make Hillary jealous.
Maybe the Unions feel it is time for a Pro-LABOR President.
It has been over 50 years since we have had one.
Capn Sunshine
(14,378 posts)So, yeah.
My question is, what will the Sanders Campaign say to any Union PACs ( there are hundreds) about their money?
jwirr
(39,215 posts)community that today held a hour long parade with a huge union presence and free lunch at the Labor Temple after.
Unlike corporate PACS union is not seen as the enemy.
I actually would be glad if the unions wait until after the primary to endorse and free their members to support whoever they choose in the primary.
Bernie was the only presidential candidate to be represented in that parade.
I had to laugh at the R representation. There was a couple in an old model car with balloons tied to the back. Everyone was ignoring them - no applause no waving - until I look over at my two little great grandchildren. There they stood waving their hearts out. The man just stared at them - I suspect he could see the look on our faces.
bvar22
(39,909 posts)...at the Democratic Party Leadership (and Bill Clinton) for their treachery in the Arkansas Primary, 2010.
I'm still pissed too.
The Arkansas Democratic Primary of 2010 was a heart breaking eye opener for the Grass Roots and Organized LABOR. We were given a Look Behind the Curtain,
and it wasn't very pretty.
[font size=3]We did EVERYTHING right in Arkansas in 2010.
We did EXACTLY what the White House asked us to do to "give the President Progressives in Congress that would work with him."[/font]
We organized and supported Democratic Lt Governor Bill Halter, the Pro-LABOR/ Pro-Health Care challenger to DINO Obstructionist Blanche Lincoln's Senate seat.
Halter was:
* Polling BETTER against the Republicans in the General,
*was popular in Arkansas in his OWN right,
*had an Up & Running Political machine,
* had a track record of winning elections (Lt. Governor)
*Had the full backing of Organized LABOR and The Grass Roots activists
*was handing Blanche her Anti-LABOR ass
...and we were WINNING!
Guess what happened.
The White House stepped in at the last minute to save Blanche's failing primary campaign with an Oval Office Endorsement of The Wicked Witch that Wrecked the Obama Agenda who was actually campaigning at that time as the one who had killed the Public Option!!!
Adding insult to injury, the White House sent Bill Clinton back to Arkansas on a state-wide Campaign/Fund Raising Tour for Blanche,
focusing on the areas with high Black Populations, and bashing Organized LABOR and "Liberals" at every opportunity.
For those of us who had worked hard to give President Obama Progressive Democrats who would work with him, it was especially difficult to watch his smiling Oval Office Endorsement for DINO Blanche Lincoln which played 24/7 on Arkansas TV the week before the runoff Primary election.
White House steps in to rescue Lincolns Primary Campaign in Arkansas
* Bill Clinton traveled to Arkansas to urge loyal Democrats to vote for her, bashing liberal groups for good measure.
*Obama recorded an ad for Lincoln which, among other things, were used to tell African-American primary voters that they should vote for her because she works for their interests.
*The entire Party infrastructure lent its support and resources to Lincoln a Senator who supposedly prevents Democrats from doing all sorts of Wonderful, Progressive Things which they so wish they could do but just dont have the votes for.
<snip>
What happened in this race also gives the lie to the insufferable excuse weve been hearing for the last 18 months from countless Obama defenders: namely, if the Senate doesnt have 60 votes to pass good legislation, its not Obamas fault because he has no leverage over these conservative Senators. It was always obvious what an absurd joke that claim was; the very idea of The Impotent, Helpless President, presiding over a vast government and party apparatus, was laughable. But now, in light of Arkansas, nobody should ever be willing to utter that again with a straight face.
Back when Lincoln was threatening to filibuster health care if it included a public option, the White House could obviously have said to her: if you dont support a public option, not only will we not support your re-election bid, but well support a primary challenger against you. Obamas support for Lincoln did not merely help; it was arguably decisive, as The Washington Post documented today:"
<much more>
http://www.salon.com/2010/06/10/lincoln_6/
After the White House and Party Leadership had spent a truck full of money torpedoing the Primary challenge of a Pro-LABOR Democrat for Lincoln's Senate seat, the Party support for Lincoln evaporated for the General Election, and as EVERYBODY had predicted, Lincoln lost badly giving that Senate seat to a Republican virtually uncontested in the General Election.
Don't you find it "interesting" that the Party Establishment and conservative Power Brokers would spend all that money in a Democratic Primary to make sure that their candidate won, and then leave Their Winner dangling without support in the General Election?
Many Grass Roots Activists working for a better government concluded that the current Democratic Party Leadership preferred to GIVE this Senate Seat to a Big Business Republican rather than taking the risk that a Pro-LABOR Democrat might win it, and it was difficult to argue with them.
This was greatly reinforced by the Insults & Ridicule to LABOR & The Grass Roots from the White House after their Primary "victory" over Organized LABOR & the Grass Roots in the Arkansas Democratic Primary.
When the supporters of Pro-LABOR Lt Gov Bill Halter asked the White House WHY they had chosen to throw their full support behind Lincoln at the last minute, rescuing her failing campaign, the only answer was ridicule and insults.
Ed Schultz sums up my feeling perfectly in the following clip.
http://crooksandliars.com/heather/ed-schultz-if-it-wasnt-labor-barack-obama-
So what did the White House gain by Beating Down Labor and the Grass Roots in the Arkansas Democratic Primary?
We don't know.
The White House has never responded to our questions with an explanation, only insults.
To date, the White House has refused to answer our questions,
or issue an apology for their taunts and ridicule of Organized LABOR and the Grass Roots in the Arkansas Democratic Primary.
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)I live over in Tennessee and followed it because, well, we never have any decent Democrats running on the state and federal levels.
However, I didn't realize all that background.
Wow. And people get mad when liberals question Obama's motives on some issues.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)that she won because of the southern dislike of unions.
MisterP
(23,730 posts)decide to torpedo their own candidate, eh?