Obama called hypocrite for wife's Wal-Mart link

[BenDavid]

Mrs Obama earned $51,200 for her work with Treehouse's board last year, on top of
the $271,618 salary she was paid as a vice-president of the University of Chicago Hospitals.
She also received 7,500 Treehouse stock options, worth a further $72,375, as she did the
previous year, when she banked a $45,000 salary from the company.

The apparent contradiction between Sen Obama's political calculation to join the
Wal-Mart-bashing lobby, and his wife's profitable role with a company that makes money
from Wal-Mart, is being closely scrutinised by "opposition" research teams.


But if they point out that Obama's wife make big bucks from Wal-Mart,
that'll be just one more racial slur of which the Clintons are guilty, right?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/13/wobama13.xml

[FrenchieCat]

1. whoo boy, the Obamas are loaded!

[DJ13]

2. You know whats missing in this pro_hillary hit job?

Proof of direct payments from Walmart to Michelle Obama.

Working for a product supplier is not proof.

Now how about Hillary, she WAS paid directly by Walmart.........

[rox63]

3. Treehouse is a supplier of Walmart's - They sell to other companies too

That's a lot different than sitting on the board of Wal-Mart. Many companies sell their products through Walmart. That doesn't make them evil. In some parts of the country, it's the only major retail store for miles.

[Virginia Dare]

5. I can count on Obama to go after Wal-Mart for their..

anti-labor practices then? I hope so.

[rucky]

13. see post #12

and if you're not familiar with www.wakeupwalmart.com , you should check it out.

[jakem]

4. weak. please spend more time developing your attacks.

the point is not necessarily that Walmart is evil (thoug i suspect it is), but rather the ugly implications this has for Hillary.

---

And the Clintons depended on Wal-Mart's largesse not only for Hillary's regular payments as a board member but for travel expenses on Wal-Mart planes and for heavy campaign contributions to Bill's campaigns there and nationally. According to reports in the early '90s, before Bill and Hillary moved to D.C., neither was raking in the big bucks, but prominent in their income were her holdings of between $50,000 and $100,000 worth of Wal-Mart stock.

A press report on the Clintons' finances during the early stages of Bill's 1992 run for the presidency showed that most of their income came from her $109,719 annual salary from the Rose Law Firm and tens of thousands of dollars in fees she received from serving on corporate boards. (She was on two others besides Wal-Mart's.) Her honoraria and director fees grew almost as fast as Wal-Mart's profits during the '80s—rising from $111 in 1980 to $6500 in 1986 to $64,700 in 1991, according to the same source.

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0021,harkavy,15052,5.html

[robbedvoter]

6. Unfortunately, only in UK. Our MSM - still on the Love Boat

[magatte]

7. Dude, Clinton has been running on her husband legacy all this race.

She sure hasn't proved anything in her OWN political career so far.

[redqueen]

8. She voted against the Oman trade bill... Obama voted for it. (nt)

[jillan]

10. hehe -

that picture!

[karynnj]

9. She did NOT work for Wall Mart- HRC did, she worked for a company that sold food to WallMart

This has top be the 95th time this idiotic story was up. Why not look at the links to video when HRC was on the REAL WALLMART board.

[Bluerthanblue]

11. Obama's been called a lot of negative things- most of them are lies.

This is yet another-

But you really don't care. Your object is to spread gossip. And win at any price.

Not very progressive or productive of you.

peace~

[rucky]

12. Treehouse Foods is a UNION SHOP - UFCW

Plant production in the US. Michelle resigned last May:

http://blog.wakeupwalmart.com/ufcw/2007/05/index.html

May 22, 2007
Obama's wife resigns from board of company that supplied Wal-Mart

From the AP via the Akron Beacon Journal:

CHICAGO - The wife of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama resigned Tuesday from the board of a food supplier for retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc., a target of criticism by the Illinois senator.

Michelle Obama cited the increased demands of his campaign for leaving the board of Westchester, Ill.-based TreeHouse Foods Inc. Her position had raised questions because Obama has praised a union-led effort to change working conditions at Wal-Mart...

Obama and other Democratic presidential contenders have been critical of Wal-Mart, which has taken heat over employees' wages and benefits. Some cities have passed, or tried to pass, laws upping the amount big retailers would have to pay. The Arkansas-based company has defended its wages.

One of Barack Obama's chief Democratic rivals, fellow Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, once served on Wal-Mart's board but since has become a critic of its business practices. Democratic presidential contender John Edwards also has criticized the retail chain.

Last year, before Barack Obama declared his candidacy for president, the Illinois senator courted the union-backed group WakeUpWalMart.com.

"This is a much broader issue than Wal-Mart but I think the battle to engage Wal-Mart and force them to examine their own corporate values and what their policies and approaches are to their workers and how they are going to be good corporate citizens, I think, is absolutely vital," Obama said at the time.

WakeUpWalMart.com spokesman Chris Kofinis said Tuesday night that "many companies do business with Wal-Mart, but what truly matters is whether our leaders stay silent on Wal-Mart's negative effect on America's working families."

"Sen. Obama has not stayed silent and should be applauded for that," Kofinis said.

[Virginia Dare]

14. Interesting to note that..

Chris Kofinis went on to work on the Edwards campaign.

Last year, before Barack Obama declared his candidacy for president, the Illinois senator courted the union-backed group WakeUpWalMart.com.

"This is a much broader issue than Wal-Mart but I think the battle to engage Wal-Mart and force them to examine their own corporate values and what their policies and approaches are to their workers and how they are going to be good corporate citizens, I think, is absolutely vital," Obama said at the time.

WakeUpWalMart.com spokesman Chris Kofinis said Tuesday night that "many companies do business with Wal-Mart, but what truly matters is whether our leaders stay silent on Wal-Mart's negative effect on America's working families."

"Sen. Obama has not stayed silent and should be applauded for that," Kofinis said.


I hope this is not just all talk coming out of Obama. I'm not slamming him, I honestly hope so.