Posted on 05/20/2011 1:56:01 PM PDT by jazusamo
The nations top labor leader on Friday said President Obama has allowed talk of attacking federal deficits to overrun his message on jobs and economic growth, while hitting Fox News for being anti-union.
I think he made a strategic blunder whenever he confused his stimulus/jobs agenda by letting deficits dominate the conversation, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said of Mr. Obama in response to questions at the National Press Club.
The unions have long been a critical component of the Democratic Party base, but Mr. Trumkas remarks suggested the umbrella labor group could take a more independent stance in 2012.
Mr. Trumka praised the president for supporting additional taxpayer money for infrastructure projects, aid to the states and loans for small- and medium-sized businesses. But he hit Mr. Obama for his recent support of long-stalled trade deals with South Korea, Panama and Colombia.
I think putting the Colombia free trade agreement up [for a vote in Congress] will be a strategic blunder, the labor chief said, citing violence against workers in the Latin American nation.
If the AFL-CIO decides to support Mr. Obama in his re-election - Mr. Trumka said members havent decided who were supporting next year - the presidents backing of trade deals wont lessen that support but will make it more difficult to promote him, he conceded.
Mr. Trumka also sounded off on the media, saying he regrets that money-starved news outlets dont have enough resources to do the investigative reporting they once did.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
I guess this makes Trumka a racist now, right? He criticized Obama.
(sarcasm)
Wrong again Trumka!
Fox News has plenty of money to investigate you, the union goon in a suit and your fellow union thugs.
If I were Trumka I wouldn’t be taunting the media about investigative reporting, he could well end up in a federal slammer watching the newscasts of the media responsible for putting him there.
Trumka has to talk tough. Unions are getting their heads handed to them. No “card check” and big reverses in the states, I imagine the membership is restless.
I believe you’re right. When Obama was inaugurated the unions thought they’d get everything they were after, real pronto.
Thankfully most of it was a bridge just a might too far but had it been up to Obama they’d have gotten it.
I think their reputation is taking a hit as well wallets.
Amen! As well it should.
Mr. Trumka might want to reconsider his criticisms.
The Obama Administration has gone to the mat for the union hog multiple times. Most recently in the issue of Boeing. His “thug” appointees to the USDL pretty much killed their idea of movng production to S.C. “because they didn’t seek prior union approval”. Pretty much evident the goons think they, and only they, can make corporate decisions without sitting on the board.
Might serve a lot of folks a healthy helping of crow if Boeing took its new production offshore....As GM did, reportedly using taxpayer money to move motor production to Mexico. >PS
Boeing has no intentions of abandoning the 787 line in SC and is gearing up for a fight.
They could also move to China.....
I certainlyh hope so !! They get my support ! I can’t abide a marketplace where labor - with no investment - gets the whip hand. >PS
Further stoked by this piece in The Hill by Kevin Bogardus:
http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/162513-senate-dems-tell-top-nrlb-lawyer-not-to-give-away-boeing-strategy
I knew we were about to become ear deep in the kimchee when Obama promised a “new era in governmental transparency”. FDR’s administrations largely worked covertly in achieving their ends. Nixon’s subterfuges were largely on the international scene. Carter was plainly a bumbler in way over his head. (pun intended). Even the WJC administration hadn’t the nerve to “face down” the public the Obama Administration has demonstrated.
The “New Democrats” still spout the same pro-people platitudes of yore, but consistently pursue strategies inimical to the “working class”. This is merely the latest. >PS
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