My Union Endorses My President

[bigtree]

October 20, 2011

United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Endorses Obama 2012

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The following is a statement issued by United Food and Commercial Workers International Union President Joseph T. Hansen:

“UFCW members are energized because corporate-backed politicians at the federal and state level have launched an all-out assault on working people. President Obama is fighting back.”

“The 1.3 million members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) are ready to fight for the future of our country and to stand with leaders who will stand up for working families. President Barack Obama is that leader.

“I am proud to announce that the UFCW is endorsing President Obama’s reelection campaign because our members understand how much is at stake in this election. President Obama has stood up for the jobless, the uninsured, the middle class taxpayer, Medicare recipients, working women, and accountability from Wall Street. UFCW members are ready to mobilize for the president and to elect more leaders who will stand with him in Congress and statehouses across the country.

“Cashiers and grocery workers (me, 29yrs.) are ready to stand up to elect leaders who will ensure good jobs stay in their communities and that their children can achieve their dream for a better life. Meatpackers and food processors are ready to stand up to elect leaders who will keep fighting to hold Wall Street gamblers accountable to the home owners and retirees who have invested in their future and deserve security and honesty from financial institutions.

“Working families are struggling during this recession – a recession created by Bush-era tax breaks, lack of financial regulation and unnecessary military escalation. Turning our economy around is going to take a tremendous effort – an effort that must be led by a president who speaks for the 99 percent of Americans who clock into work every morning, instead of those who simply watch stock tickers all day.

“UFCW members are energized because corporate-backed politicians at the federal and state level have launched an all-out assault on working people. President Obama is fighting back.

“UFCW members have never stopped fighting back in statehouses and in their communities. They are ready to win the fight for the White House in 2012. The UFCW will be mobilizing, organizing and energizing our members, their friends and families to keep President Obama in the White House and to elect a Congress that works hard for hard working Americans. Ours is an enthusiastic choice to stand with President Obama as he fights against political opposition that seeks to enrich a select few at the expense of millions of regular Americans.”

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) represents more than 1.3 million workers, primarily in the retail and meatpacking, food processing and poultry industries. The UFCW protects the rights of workers and strengthens America’s middle class by fighting for health care reform, living wages, retirement security, safe working conditions and the right to unionize so that working men and women and their families can realize the American Dream.


read: http://www.ufcw.org/press_room/index.cfm?pressReleaseID=568

[bigtree]

1. kick for Local 27!

[Freddie Stubbs]

2. I was a member of local 1776 when I was in college working at Shoprite

[Sherman A1]

3. Local 655 here

I was glad to see it.

[bigtree]

6. the announcement hit me the same way

breath of fresh air . . . I've been through enough elections with our local organizing against the WH.

[Itchinjim]

4. UFCW Local 431 here.

GOBAMA!

[hfojvt]

5. I would endorse him too, if those things were true

"President Obama is fighting back"

The sad truth is that "President Obama is caving in, and adopting their talking points."

"Turning our economy around is going to take a tremendous effort – an effort that must be led by a president who speaks for the 99 percent of Americans who clock into work every morning, instead of those who simply watch stock tickers all day."

That's sorta true. However, many members of the top 1% work jobs too. They are CEOs and managers and actors and professional atheletes. Many other members of the top 4% and the top 9% work jobs as well, but the generally are not on the same side as the bottom 60%. Obama has done a very poor job of speaking for, and fighting for the bottom 60%.

As such, he deserves to be challenged at this point rather than endorsed for doing something he has not done.

[bigtree]

7. 8 days left

. . . for a serious 'challenger' to file in NH.

[FrenchieCat]

8. I beg to differ......Although he certainly hasn't been the perfect Prez we ordered........

The truth is that this President has done a good job in what has been one of the most difficult periods of modern history. He saved the economy from ruin (until the Tea Party took over Congress) with a stimulus that was as large as possible given the political realities, presided over a stock market that fairly quickly recouped many of its losses, presided over almost consecutive monthly increases in private sector job growth (unfortunately balanced by monthly decreases in public sector jobs which I attribute to the GOP further starving government), enacted the only meaningful healthcare reform ever in our history, passed financial reform (no matter what the Left says, he did this), saved the auto industry (which Romney is on record opposing), fired the first salvo of the Arab Spring with his address in Cairo no less, drawn down our footprint in Iraq in a responsible way (and headed toward almost total withdrawal), stopped numerous terrorist attacks in this country, stopped torture as policy, repealed DADT, joined the international community in a measured and responsible way to bring down an odious tyrant in Qaddafi, and killed a whole generation of al Qaeda leaders. And taking out Osama bin Laden the way he did will go down as one of the bravest military actions in American history.

I know this President is not popular, and it is very unpopular to defend him in such a way. I don't care. For this country to dump him for anyone on the other side would be a terrible thing. Progress is slow and painful, but we are doing it. Is that fashionable to say? No. Again, I don't care.
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/10/the-untold-story-of-the-actual-obama-record.html

[hfojvt]

9. I did not order a perfect President

but I did want somebody at least a little bit to the left of Hillary Cilnton.

The question is whether he has fought for the bottom 60% and against the top 1% and I say that he has not.

Here's Obama in his own words

"Now, I know there are some who would have preferred a protracted political fight, even if it had meant higher taxes for all Americans, even if it had meant an end to unemployment insurance for those who are desperately looking for work."

And then he made a bunch of excuses for why he was CAVING in INSTEAD of FIGHTING.

http://www.shallownation.com/2010/12/07/obama-press-conference-video-dec-7-2010-presidential-news-conference-speech-on-tax-cuts-deal/

And now he's being endorsed as the guy whose gonna fight? We are supposed to bet on the guy with the proven glass jaw who consistently takes a dive in the second round every goddamn time? The man whose record is like 0 - 8 against the Republicans on economic issues? The man who is currently fighting, sort of, for a "jobs bill" that is basically Reaganomics even while he argues for tax "reform" that would reduce the number of brackets and lower tax rates?

I'm supposed to believe this guy is fighting on my side? Can I get the Mackinack bridge with that too?

[ellisonz]

10. Way to crap on a positive thread...

:thumbsdown: for distorted revisionism.

[hfojvt]

11. yeah, I never understood that whole "positive" and "crap" business

If an OP claims that "X is true" it is not "crapping on a positive thread" to make an argument that "X is false".

The OP said that "Obama fights for working people"

I don't find that to be a "positive message". I find it to be a load of crap. There's nothing positive about a message that is not true.

Obama promised to end the Bush tax cuts for incomes over $200,000.

Then he didn't fight for that, he took a dive instead.

Obam promised to fight for a public option.

Took a dive instead.

Obama ran on a health care plan that did not have a mandate.

Did not fight for a plan with no mandate. Took a dive instead.

Now he claims to be fighting for jobs. But his way to create jobs is mostly Reaganomics. He's gonna create jobs with tax cuts. What he calls "middle class tax cuts" that give the same amount of money to the top 10% as they do to the bottom 60%, that give almost half their benefits to the top 20%. Half goes to the top 20% and that's a "middle class tax cut"?

Now he claims to be fighting to increase taxes on the rich, but he praised the catfood commission, praised the gang of six, after both of those proposed LOWERING tax rates on the rich. Obama lays out his "principles for tax reform" and the #1 principle is "lower tax rates".

Nothing distorted or revisionist about that at all. It is right there in black and white on Obama's own website.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/09/19/fact-sheet-living-within-our-means-and-investing-future-president-s-plan

That #1 principle is not a formula for increasing taxes on the rich. Quite the opposite. It is a Republican trojan horse. Might as well endorse the Cain plan. 9% is certainly a lower rate, and Cain proposes killing all loopholes. And it even follows the Buffet rule, the rich don't pay less than the middle class - everybody pays 9%.

[ellisonz]

13. What do you want him to do?

Change the Constitution to allow him to pass bills without Congress? Please, go back and read the Constitution and maybe the Federalist papers and you'd have an idea that American politics is not a boxing match - it's chess.

But more to the point:

You're really confused if you think Obama's economic policies are Reaganomics...

The four pillars of Reagan's economic policy were to:<2>

Reduce Growth of Government spending.
Reduce Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax.
Reduce Government regulation.
Control the money supply to reduce inflation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaganomics

is not by any means:

Revenues

The President calls on the Committee to undertake comprehensive tax reform, and lays out five principles for it to follow: 1) lower tax rates; 2) cut wasteful loopholes and tax breaks; 3) reduce the deficit by $1.5 trillion; 4) boost job creation and growth; and 5) comport with the “Buffett Rule” that people making more than $1 million a year should not pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than middle-class families pay.
Tax reform should draw on the specific proposals the President has put forward, together with elimination of additional inefficient tax breaks. If the Joint Committee is unable to undertake comprehensive tax reform, the President believes the discrete measures he has proposed should be enacted on a standalone basis. Their enactment as a standalone package still would significantly improve the country’s fiscal standing, represent an important step toward more fundamentally transforming our tax code, and serve as a strong foundation for economic growth and job creation.
To advance this debate, the President is offering a detailed set of specific tax loophole closers and measures to broaden the tax base that, together with the expiration of the high-income tax cuts, would be more than sufficient to hit the $1.5 trillion target. These include:
Allowing the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for upper income earners to expire ($866 billion)
Limiting deductions and exclusions for those making more than $250,000 a year ($410 billion)
Closing loopholes and eliminating special interest tax breaks (approximately $300 billion)

9-9-9 is a joke - to even begin to take Herman Cain seriously you must be seriously confused. What do you want Obama to come out and say - he wants higher tax rates for middle class Americans? Do you want Republicans to win this next election? :banghead:

This isn't a bar fight - this is real business - and the lives of 312 million people.

[Exilednight]

12. Yeah, distorted revisionism. Some people actually seem to think that words matters.

:sarcasm:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgMcht-EW6I

[ellisonz]

14. Congress matters.

Here have a refresher course in how our political system works:

Know Nothing, Do Nothing Congress
Elizabeth, New Jersey, October 7, 1948
Harry S Truman

http://speeches-usa.com/Resources-2/053_truman.html

[Exilednight]

15. I know exactly how Congress works. I just wish Obama knew how the executive works. Just some more

food for thought. I use to believe that Obama was a pretty smart guy, but when he started losing the messaging war to a bunch of idiotic morans like the tea party, well, let's just say that I don't think he's as smart as everyone thinks he is. I mean seriously, how do you lose a messaging war to a group that can barely create a coherent sentence and not even spell the word moron properly?

[ellisonz]

16. "messaging war" - Do you mean a MSM propaganda campaign?

It was a mid=term election - turnout is always lower and that hurts Democrats. Obama has gotten a lot done considering the threat of filibuster, a weak majority in the Senate, and now the loss of the House. Stimulus, health insurance reform, 2 minority female Supreme Court Justices, Dodd-Frank, and a whole lot of other stuff people don't even realize both at home and abroad.

http://thejoshuablogs.blogspot.com/2010/06/maddow-president-obamas-legislative.html

[Exilednight]

18. You call HCR a victory? You believe Dodd-Frank FinReg actually matters? You honestly believe that

both of his supreme court appointments are the best the a Democratic president could nominate? You feel he gets threatened by filibuster when he holds a veto pen? What stimulus?

If people within the party actually believe that this is progress, then this party is in a bigger trouble than I thought. No wonder people are out protesting in the street and the White House is sitting back wondering what the hell is going on.

[ellisonz]

20. I'm a realist.

If none of mattered - why do the Republicans hate everything he's done so fucking much? BTW - what the heck do you have against Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan - out of curiosity?

I had a stimulus job. Only one more year and Kaiser Permanente can't kick me off my health insurance for having ear infections...I'd be getting absolutely nowhere without either one of those things. Speak for yourself, not for Democrats because you don't seem to be one (as do many around here). Furthermore, I really don't think your characterization of the White House's reaction to OWS is based in anything tangible.

[Exilednight]

21. Neither Sotomayor or Kagan are left leaning, except on social issues. They're both very

business friendly. The only reason Republicans hate Obama is because he's not a Republican. It's the same reason they hated Clinton. They only want power for power's sake.

If you're using the word "had" in conjunction with "stimulus job", then that means you no longer have it. In which case, the stimulus didn't work. Obama went too small.

If you're an adult, (I say this with all sincerity) unless you have deformed ears, then you don't have ear infections. It's impossible for an adult to have an ear infection. If that's what your doctor keeps diagnosing you with, then find another doctor.

As far as my characterization of the White House and OWS, I will just say this. If the WH actually knew what this was about, then they would be harnessing the power of OWS, in much the same way the Republicans harnessed the power of the tea party. It's quite obvious that they don't have a clue, because if they did, then they wouldn't be sitting around with their thumbs up their asses and watching people out in the streets complain about how they're doing a horrible job.

[ellisonz]

22. Obama went as big as they'd let him.

"It's impossible for an adult to have an ear infection." - I have a small hole in my ear drum - I think my doctor knows what he's talking about. I've had friends who don't have anything wrong with their ear get infections. The CDC disagrees with you: http://www.cdc.gov/getsmart/antibiotic-use/URI/ear-infection.html

You're full of anti-Democratic propaganda in general. Have fun with Mitt Romney or Rick Perry in 2012.

:hi:

[stillwaiting]

24. You lose that war when you want to lose it. There's no other explanation acceptable to me.

It defies logic.

[canetoad]

17. Great post, I'm glad it's all happening

But can you not refer to the Prez as 'My President'? It's very spooky that you guys, for all you independence, your freedoms, your free speech, elevate a politician to an almost godlike position.

I don't talk about My prime minister, or My queen. I don't have a personal connection to either of them. Don't get me wrong, I think Barack Obama is the best thing that's happened to America in decades, but....isn't it a bit overreaching to get emotional about a politician?

Unions are another thing and they're not perfect either. EVERYONE acts in self interest; presidents, union leaders, saints, martyrs, workers, bankers. Obama is a smart guy, he knows exactly what he wants history to write about him, but....

He is not a deity, neither is any other person who occupies the position of President of the United States.

[Agony]

19. Well then you better hold his feet to the fire...a big white hot inferno of a fire.

he asked you to...

[LWolf]

23. So does mine.

That's why this exists:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/161754330559955/

[Omaha Steve]

25. K&R!