Pic Of The Moment: Obama On Labor Day: "I'd Join A Union"

[EarlG]

First time a President has uttered these words since 1936. Want a good job? Join a union.

Follow @demunderground

[ehrnst]

1. And Ronnie the union buster was the president of a union

The bastard.

[leftyohiolib]

2. he also said that if one went on strike he'd find comfortable shoes and join the line

but didnt when he had the opportunity

[SamKnause]

3. Exactly !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What part of Ohio are you in ?

Seaman, Ohio for me. 60 miles east of Cincinnati.

[RufusTFirefly]

4. Yes. Talk is so cheap you can even afford it in a Right to Work state

[WorseBeforeBetter]

5. Two months before the midterms and Obama would join a union.

Uh-huh.

Can't help but think of the hot bald dude from House of Cards: "No one in Washington gives a FUCK about you. I'm all you've got." Or something to that effect...

[Plucketeer]

9. YUP!

FIRST thing that came to mind was how extremely difficult it has been for our Prez to find some comfortable shoes.

[NYC Liberal]

16. You mean go where he was ASKED NOT to go by the people striking

because they believed it would have been a distraction?

That would have been brilliant. "I don't give a shit what the union wants, I'm coming whether they like it or not!"

[leftyohiolib]

17. wow everyone of them said that? every person there asked him not to come

well now that's amazing. more people than that want card check where's that? more people want us out of war why are we still there since he's so swayed by what people want. iwould explain excuses to you but it sounds like youre not gonna wanna hear it

[NYC Liberal]

19. And what do you think it would have accomplished, hm?

Some people think of the president as Superman. They think that he is responsible for every single thing that happens in the country. Apparently nothing can ever get done unless the president himself gets involved. That's the real "excuse" here. Obama becomes the convenient fall guy to blame whenever something goes wrong. Local strike fails? Blame Obama!

It is absolutely amazing to me how many people around here really just seem to want a liberal Bush. Some people would have no problem with a dictatorship if the dictator did things they liked. Scott Walker is a piece of shit; why can't Obama just fire him and throw him in prison? Local cop murders an unarmed teenager? Obama should send in the National Guard and send him to Guantanamo. We have a shitty health care system? Obama should be able to issue an EO unilaterally banning all health insurance companies and setting up a single-payer system.

more people than that want card check where's that?

Case in point. Right here. He supports it. Where's that, you ask? It's stalled in Congress. Do you want Obama to somehow magically amend the Constitution so the president can pass laws on his own without Congress? That would be a very scary prospect.

[demwing]

31. NOBODY thinks of the President as Superman, that's ridiculous

and even if any of your examples were accurate, they would only be so when applied to a single post, or a infinitesimally small group of posters.

You falsely portray a large percentage of DUers as blaming the President "for everything," but the reality is you just can't blame the President for anything.

Any measure of protest is considered too much, any measure of blame is deemed unwarranted, and any measure of dissent amazes you.

Sure it does.

Sure it does...

[leftyohiolib]

60. what it would have accomplished is when he now says he'd join a union

he wouldnt sound like another politician pandering to a worker on labor day

[leftyohiolib]

61. from YURBUD who said it better than i could

yep. By this point in his presidency he should be able to say, "I don't have to blow smoke up your

ass, you KNOW where I stand on unions because I've been there from day one as president, with teachers fighting to block the corporate takeover of K-12 public education, with the SEIU helping them organize and fight for a living wage for fast food and other service workers, and with all the other unions fighting against trade deals that outsource our jobs and fighting for the right of working Americans in every state to join a union and make a decent living.

I have gone out on a constitutional limb for working people the way George W. Bush went out on a limb for the one percent with his tax cuts for the rich, wars for the richer, and Wall Street bailouts for the richest.

I had your back from day one and as a result, you had mine. And together, we were unstoppable."


But that's not what happened.

[blkmusclmachine]

41. Cheap words from the Corporatist prez!

[MADem]

6. But wait a minute, wait a minute...?

This will provide a lot of cognitive dissonance to the people who try to find fault with POTUS because they accuse him of being on the side of the "corporatists" and "banksters."



Right on, President Obama. Right on!

[grahamhgreen]

14. Cuz it's talk, not concrete action.

[yurbud]

20. yep. By this point in his presidency he should be able to say, "I don't have to blow smoke up your

ass, you KNOW where I stand on unions because I've been there from day one as president, with teachers fighting to block the corporate takeover of K-12 public education, with the SEIU helping them organize and fight for a living wage for fast food and other service workers, and with all the other unions fighting against trade deals that outsource our jobs and fighting for the right of working Americans in every state to join a union and make a decent living.

I have gone out on a constitutional limb for working people the way George W. Bush went out on a limb for the one percent with his tax cuts for the rich, wars for the richer, and Wall Street bailouts for the richest.

I had your back from day one and as a result, you had mine. And together, we were unstoppable."


But that's not what happened.

[BrotherIvan]

23. I rec your post!

The weak excuses for inaction, always the same, don't explain why the administration is actively busting a union--the teachers union. I doubt with today's Secretary of Education, he would want to join that union.

[PeteSelman]

26. Well put.

We saw exactly none of that. We saw the opposite.

[yurbud]

32. The president had unlimited power. ..

To serve the rich.

But gosh day it, those pesky checks and balanced make it so hard to do a anything for the rest of us.

[SomeGuyInEagan]

46. I am sure we'll see it right after the mid-terms.

Yeah, that's it. Gotta keep that powder dry, you know.

[grahamhgreen]

53. Precisely:)

[MADem]

64. Yeah, the first "talk" we've heard from a POTUS since FDR....but it's "just" talk.

Man, twice as hard to get half the credit....and you wonder why people think "What's up with THAT?"

[grahamhgreen]

66. What happened to card check?

[MADem]

68. Well, LMGTFY...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card_check

[Cha]

24. No, they'll find a way to Whine about what the President says to Union Workers on Labor DAy..

it's what they do.

[MADem]

38. Sad, but true. nt

[Jakes Progress]

56. Which is sad?

That real Democrats still have to voice truth to power even when that power is our own party?

Or that the only time this administration backs unions is in campaign rhetoric?

I think both are sad.

[MADem]

62. This:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1017&pid=212601

As I said.

Now have a nice day.

[Jakes Progress]

69. You seem to have forgotten the text of the post

with which you were so in agreement.

Cheer on.

[MADem]

73. Click the link. Or don't. That's what most people do. It's not that hard. nt

[Jakes Progress]

75. Read your own words. Or don't. Most people do. It's not that hard.

[MADem]

82. Look, you can take your game to someone who wants to play it.

This kind of "conversation" just doesn't impress me.

Go on now, have a nice day!

[Jakes Progress]

85. You play it. You just whine when you do it.

Thank you for the nice day. Mine is fine.

[Jakes Progress]

55. Only if you take campaign blather seriously.

Last edited Fri Sep 5, 2014, 04:15 PM - Edit history (1)

No thinking person does that.

Now if all you want is a reason to cheer and jump, this will feed that need quite nicely.

But if you want progressive labor action, you will only get what you have gotten so far. Like government funds used to bust teacher unions. And a lot of silence.

But go ahead and cheer if you want. Times are tough and a little bit of ignoring reality might be just what you need.

[MADem]

63. Aren't you a bundle of sunshine. The personal insult at the end is an especially notable touch. nt

[Jakes Progress]

70. I tell you to be happy and you find that an insult?

Kind of looking for something to grouse about it seems.

Tell me just why you think that words in a campaign that never bear action in office are a source of joy and celebration? Are you aware of this administration's actual practice and "action" regarding unions and labor? I mean other than just talk.

[MADem]

72. Try reading what you wrote. You didn't tell me "to be happy."

You might want to actually read your own stuff contextually, it might help with your retorts.

[Jakes Progress]

77. Try reading what I wrote. I told you to be happy.

I didn't agree with what you think would be a happy situation, but I said you could be if you wanted.

But you know that, don't you?

[MADem]

83. No, you told me to be a cheerleader. But hey, thanks so MUCH for these two little "exchanges."

I -- and anyone else reading this-- can see how you converse with your fellow Democrats and other progressives on a democratic message board. The whole "tough guy confrontational" thing just doesn't work with me--go try it out on someone who will engage you.

Toodle-oo! Have one of those real nice days, now!

[Jakes Progress]

86. Never did. I said you could cheer union busting if you wanted.

You never said how you feel about unions. You never said how you feel about the attacks on teachers and teacher unions.

You showed though how you converse with fellow Democrats and progressives on a democratic message board. You were the toughie, bemoaning the DU members who want to hold the administration to progressive standards. You whined about how "they" (meaning progressive DU'ers) would just always use anything to complain about a corporate president. You were supporting your own post where you bemoaned those activists who actually want the president to back up his populist rhetoric with actions. The OP never mentioned banisters, but you brought it up, so it's fair game. So what "they" keep doing is pointing out that, despite the campaign cheer talk about working people and labor, the president still sides with corporations over the union worker when it comes to actions. This administration has been harder on teacher unions than even the bush team.

So you can walk away and chortle your toddles to whoever you want. But, just try to argue the merits of arne duncan's assault on public education and educators. Then try to say you support unions with a straight face.

You have a real nice day now too.

[BlueCaliDem]

79. Yep. And that's exactly it.

For some strange reason, this president has a much higher threshold to overcome than previous Democratic presidents who seem to get away with just about anything, yet still get full credit.

Hm.

[MADem]

80. Twice as hard/half the credit!

And the GOP presidents, they were carried along on a palanquin and never called to proper account...hell, Saint Ronnie of Raygun was non compos half the time, dribbling into his oatmeal, using the deafness excuse for not answering hard questions (when Nancy didn't answer for him); still he managed to get twice the credit for one third of the work....and almost none of the blame he deserved!

[BlueCaliDem]

84. "Saint Ronnie of Raygun"

LOVE it.

Ahem ... with that out of the way (still chuckling) ...

Not a single Republican president or politician is ever held to account by our corporate media - save for a few Liberals on MSNBC who are not as widely available to the majority of the country - unlike CNN and Faux News Channel, which are on basic cable, available even in the tiniest towns, and free for all (as propaganda usually is). It's the reason why Chuck Toad, a reliable pro-Republican shill, will be hosting MTP rather than, say, Lawrence O'Donnell or Rachel Maddow. And it frustrates me to no end seeing this imbalance that's benefiting the GOP, but that's what we get when corporations take over, well, anything.

Btw, learned two (three?) new words today ... palanquin and the Latin, non compos. Thank you, MADem for teaching me something new!

[Kali]

7. kick

[SoapBox]

8. Would Hillary say this?

[yurbud]

21. she would say anything necessary. She wouldn't do the deeds to make it believable.

[MADem]

39. If history is any guide, yes.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3803468

[EEO]

10. FDR would be pretty pissed off to see our economy now.

Among other things.

[Scootaloo]

11. Why so few recs?

This is the fucking truth right here. Unions equal decent wages, strong benefits, and job security.

[blkmusclmachine]

42. I think people don't believe Obama on this. I know I sure don't.

[BlueCaliDem]

78. The vast majority of people do. Only a handful don't.

Most of us understand the security detail involved to have the president "walk on that picket line with you, if workers are denied the right to bargain." We also understand that he made this promise while campaigning (2007) and not having been the president for a single day yet, so not fully grasping the cost and security necessary to do such a thing - especially with so many hate groups popping up the moment he was elected. Combine that with our dangerously lax gun laws and you can understand - if you're inclined to - why he couldn't fulfill that promise.

Yet, he got re-elected with over 50% of the vote, so you can say that the majority of America does understand.

I trust that, as a community organizer (and a good one), his heart is firmly in the right place with labor unions. His past has underscored that again and again.

76 recs as of this writing, by the way.

[grahamhgreen]

12. So work harder on card check instead of costly trade agreements and war.

[msongs]

13. he's already in a union, the 1% club nt

[blkmusclmachine]

43. ^THIS!^

[RufusTFirefly]

15. Naked Capitalism: "Obama Phones It In for Labor Day"

Seen Obama on a picket line lately? Or ever? No? Are those mean Republicans preventing him from walking the line? No? So why isn’t he doing it? A question that answers itself, once asked.


Figure 1: Truly, this man is one of us!

Anyhow, Obama visited Laborfest in Milwaukee and gave the greatest Labor Day speech ever the other day, and I suppose it’s better to post on it than claw out my eyeballs or whack myself repeatedly on the forehead with a claw hammer or self-medicate heavily.

...

(To be fair, Obama’s speech is not the most banal and bathetic speech given by a Democrat on Labor Day; that honor must surely go to Labor Secretary Thomas Perez: “We’re fighting like heck to raise the minimum wage.” Why is it that these Democrats are always “fighting,” but never winning? (That is, at the battles they claim to be fighting.)

Naked Capitalism: "Obama Phones It In for Labor Day"

[leftyohiolib]

18. because always “fighting,” means always needing more money

[GETPLANING]

22. He can join a union any time. He won't.

[Cha]

25. Wah Wah Wah.. so much whining for the encouragment President Obama gives to Unions and

and Union Workers on Labor Day 2014! GOTV2014 It's Midterms!

Mahalo EarlG~

[VanillaRhapsody]

27. I WISH there WAS a union for I.T. employees!

as it is...all we can get these days are pretty much Contractor work....sure ain't no job security in that!

[Veilex]

29. There is definately a concerted effort to drive down wages for anything IT related...

It used to be that IT/programming related jobs would run anywhere from around 60k up to 120k... now, with all the wage fixing and importing of H1B visa workers, you're lucky to get one of those jobs at 40k... and you can forget benefits.

[VanillaRhapsody]

35. It used to be....less than 15 yrs ago....a person graduating with a B in Computer Programming after

2yrs at a Community Technical College obtaining an Associates Degree in the Deep South could expect $40,000 a year.

I know this because only the C students got their jobs through the schools jobs program.....making UP to the $40 grand.

[Veilex]

36. *sigh*

Thanks to the likes of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, Programming job wages are lower than ever.
And that's an aside to the rampant displacement of jobs through the H1B visa program.

[VanillaRhapsody]

37. Exactly!

[hopemountain]

47. so start a union

if the farmworkers could do it, so can you.

[VanillaRhapsody]

65. yeah it is THAT easy....

GMAFB....must be a Libertarian and not in IT to say such a thing....

[hopemountain]

87. wrong. whom ever said it's easy?

i happen to have been very involved with the farmworkers. si se puede - pero el trabajo no es lente. and, fix your negative attitude. negativty only gets in the way. being real is another matter altogether. when one is realistic it is only a matter of overcoming the what is in the way. negativity in a movement is a dispiriting and a huge waste of energy. good luck to you.

[Veilex]

28. IMHO...

Any job that does not offer a retirement pension (not a 401k), is not a real job.
This is not an indictment of the people working those jobs,
but the corporations who're failing to incentivize people to want to turn those jobs into a worthwhile and mutually beneficial career.

Unions jobs, to my knowledge, are the only non military employer that continue to offer pensions.
There may be a few hold outs... but they are quickly being phased out.

[Teamster Jeff]

30. Lame bullshit

[WinkyDink]

33. I did join a union. FOR PUBLIC-SCHOOL TEACHERS. And we won't forget Arne.

[blkmusclmachine]

45. Race To The Top

[TransitJohn]

34. LOL.

What vacuous bullshit.

[KG]

40. give me a fuckin break...

[EEO]

44. All this guy does is talk. It's almost like he is a fake and his strings are being pulled...

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!

[hopemountain]

48. i watched that speech and the people there and he was sincere nt

[lonestarnot]

50. No that was your man Bushes.

[Jakes Progress]

57. You mean the guy that

started No Child Left Behind to help kill teacher unions? The same program that this president and his basketball buddy, arne, doubled down on to form Race to the Top?

Do you know anything about the union movement? Do you know anything about what is happening to civil and education workers unions?

[lonestarnot]

49. You are my President Mr. President!

[lonestarnot]

51. Earl G.

This doesn't look like DU. Look at the responses here. DU is really disappointing to me lately and it appears to be getting worse instead of better. A few look like they came from that other place. Good gawd. They wanted gramps and sarie, can you imagine fucking that.

[Jakes Progress]

58. Such crap.

This is not Love Obama underground. It is Democratic Underground. There is already a site to celebrate all things Obama. This is a site (for most of us) that recognizes and celebrates traditional Democratic actions like supporting public education and the rights of workers. Notice that I said "actions" not words. Even republicans have been known to say nice things about unions when they are campaigning. Those words do not turn into actions any more than the words from a president who supports arne duncan's unbridled attack on teacher unions and public education.

Rah. Rah. is not the same as actually walking a picket line or striking in support (solidarity) of another worker.

I'm sure Earl G. and a couple of others can point you to a happy happy site that will never make you throw up. (Though you should.)

[OnyxCollie]

59. +1

The children get upset when the adults talk.

[lonestarnot]

67. Are you sucking up?

How many picket lines have you been lucky enough to implement and sit? How many times have you been on strike? No one needs to point me anywhere. I know my way around very well thank you. So as the President of the United States, you actually think it would be ok to join a union? A union of what, 1? Woudn't collect many dues. I never ride a fence, not ever.

[Jakes Progress]

71. What are you saying?

I understand that you felt the need to dash off a testy reply as quickly as possible, but your text doesn't seem to have much to do with what I wrote.

I have been on picket lines in each of the last 5 decades. You do seem to need help if you still confuse Democratic Underground with Obama Support Underground. We (most) support Democratic principles and grouse about actions that go against those principles regardless of the office holder's professed party. I guess if you left of the "ic" from the title of the forum, you could argue that all Democrats (and democrats) should be supported and lauded regardless of their actions. But those letters are there.

Now. Why don't you point me to where I suggested that as president you should join a union. What dues are you blathering about? If, by riding a fence, you mean you never attack the person you voted for regardless of his actions, then you still don't get what a political forum is about. If you mean something else with the non-sequitur reference to dues and riding fences, you need to dash off you retorts more thoughtfully.

You are entitled to you opinion that Obama is perfect. You can say that on this forum. I am entitled to say that he falls short of carrying through with his campaign rhetoric regarding unions and labor. I can point to specific examples if you want me to, but I think that information is not what you are seeking.

So you state your opinion. I'll state mine. That is how this place works.

[lonestarnot]

74. I will be watching and counting. That's all I have time for in response to your blather tonight.

[Jakes Progress]

76. You have time for oblique and vague. How about thought?

Unable to apply any thought to dig yourself out of the hole you dug, you duck and evade and seek to seem so wise with your witless replies that don't address any of the issues that you began.

I don't blame you for ducking. You threw up a stupid post and when called out, ducked.

[Cleita]

52. Good.

Now let him do more FDR.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

54. I wish the leaders of Britain's Labour Party were as outwardly pro-union

They always play-down their links to organised labour in the face Tory and media cries of "union barons!!!", as if these democratic organisations that represent millions of people are something to be ashamed of.