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{"id":31570,"date":"2015-04-02T07:00:54","date_gmt":"2015-04-02T12:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.occasionalplanet.org\/?p=31570"},"modified":"2015-04-02T12:44:42","modified_gmt":"2015-04-02T17:44:42","slug":"obamas-indifference-labor-allowed-rise-scott-walker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occasionalplanet.org\/2015\/04\/02\/obamas-indifference-labor-allowed-rise-scott-walker\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama\u2019s indifference to labor allowed the rise of Scott Walker"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Scott<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My\u00a0Obamaphile friends may object, but it\u2019s time to consider an\u00a0uncomfortable fact about Obama:\u00a0His\u00a0indifference to the plight of labor unions in Wisconsin led to\u00a0the rise of Scott Walker as a possible presidential candidate.\u00a0According to Andrew Levine, <\/a>the liberal Obamaphile view of Obama goes something like this:<\/p>\n

From the moment that it became clear that his presidency would be rife with \u201cdisappointments\u201d and sparing in achievements, Democrats have maintained that he means well and would be a force for good\u2014were it not for pesky Republicans thwarting his every move.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Obamaphiles believe Obama\u00a0is a progressive and therefore assume he is pro labor. When confronted with a fact that is incongruent with this view, their impulse is to a) not believe it, or b) imagine there are mitigating factors that \u201cwe simply can\u2019t know,\u201d or c) insist he can\u2019t do (fill in the blank) because Republicans will attack him and\/or use it against him.<\/p>\n

Because the Obamaphile tendency is to always give him a pass on his record, they deprive themselves of the opportunity to develop a clear understanding how government and politics\u00a0currently\u00a0function. If we are to ever rebuild our democracy\u2014and I\u2019m not sure at this point we can\u2014we have to take a clear-eyed look at the corrupting effect of money in government, especially at the presidential level. One way to do that is to compare a president\u2019s rhetoric to his actual record.<\/p>\n

Some uncomfortable facts<\/h2>\n

The elite, who pay massive sums to support candidates from both parties, are deeply hostile to labor unions. Case in point: Penny Pritzker, billionaire Obama bundler and recent cabinet appointee, has a strong anti-labor record, both at\u00a0the Chicago public schools where she served on the school board, and at her family\u2019s Hyatt hotel chain. Although Obama\u2019s campaign rhetoric and statements while in office have been pro-labor, his record shows that he has served the interests of the anti-union elite\u2014donors who will remain important to him after he leaves office.<\/p>\n

In rousing campaign speeches Obama has vowed to walk picket lines in solidarity with workers, but Andrew Levine gives us a revealing account of Obama\u2019s indifference to labor struggles<\/a>\u00a0(my emphasis in bold).<\/p>\n

Like other Democrats in recent decades, Obama offers verbal support to organized labor around election time,<\/strong> while practicing malign neglect all the time. . . .<\/strong><\/p>\n

The state Democratic Party in Wisconsin did try to send Governor Scott Walker\u2014the first of the pack to go after public sector unions\u2014on his way. Obama did nothing to help them.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He must have thought that his time would be better spent chatting up wealthy donors than campaigning against a union buster.<\/p>\n

This, anyway, is what he did in the days before the 2012 recall election that Walker won. When he could have been campaigning in African American neighborhoods in Milwaukee and Racine, where he might have done some good by getting potential Democratic voters to the polls, he chose instead to hobnob with the rich and heinous at fundraisers<\/strong> \u2013 for his own 2014 campaign \u2014 in Minnesota and Illinois.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then, the night before the election, he sent out a tweet in support of the recall movement<\/strong>. Yippee!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Scott Walker emboldened by Obama\u2019s indifference to union\u00a0struggles<\/h2>\n

Emboldened by winning his recall election, and his success in destroying public sector unions, Walker went after all labor unions. The result? Once blue Wisconsin is now a \u201cright to work\u201d state. Liberals blame ALEC and the Koch brothers but Obama\u2019s complete lack of support of Wisconsin union workers is equally, if not more to blame.<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the horse was out of the barn, and the bill was signed, Obama made this statement:<\/a><\/p>\n

As its governor claims victory over working Americans, I’d encourage him to try and score a victory for working Americans \u2014 by taking meaningful action to raise their wages and offer them the security of paid leave,” Obama said, without mentioning Walker by name.<\/p>\n

That’s how you give hardworking middle-class families a fair shot in the new economy \u2014 not by stripping their rights in the workplace, but by offering them all the tools they need to get ahead.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The fact that Obama was absent when he was needed belies his progressive-sounding rhetoric. A complacent, stenographic media fails the public by not asking why he didn\u2019t show up in support of union workers in Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

Obama supports\u00a0union bashing corporate Dem Rahm Emanual<\/h2>\n

Levine goes on to contrast Obama\u2019s indifference towards struggling pro-labor Democrats in Wisconsin with his lavish support for pro-corporate candidate for mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanual, also known by local progressive opponents as \u201cMayor One Percent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a list of Rham Emanual\u2019s accomplishments in his first term as mayor.<\/a><\/p>\n