Friday, January 30, 2009

Labor's day at the White House

Reversing Bush era anti-worker executive orders was the reason for the gathering, but I agree with Trapper John that the event of the day came midway through Barack's speech:
I also believe that we have to reverse many of the policies towards organized labor that we've seen these last eight years, policies with which I've sharply disagreed. I do not view the labor movement as part of the problem, to me it's part of the solution. We need to level the playing field for workers and the unions that represent their interests, because we know that you cannot have a strong middle class without a strong labor movement. We know that strong, vibrant, growing unions can exist side by side with strong, vibrant and growing businesses. This isn't a either/or proposition between the interests of workers and the interests of shareholders. That's the old argument. The new argument is that the American economy is not and has never been a zero-sum game. When workers are prospering, they buy products that make businesses prosper. We can be competitive and lean and mean and still create a situation where workers are thriving in this country.
Forget Bush, did Clinton ever say anything close to that?

We also got this "hopeful" line from Joe Biden on the Employee Free Choice Act:
HARWOOD: Sounds like that is a 2010 or beyond issue. Vice Pres.

BIDEN: No, no, no, no. This year. This year, we hope. Our expectation is this year, this calendar year, that we will move, and hopefully with some bipartisan support, to dealing with this issue.
I'm hoping he's joking about last part, because that ain't gonna happen unless you count one republican for cloture as bipartisan. But this year would be nice. When he says "we hope" let's hope that he means Barack style "hope" not the actual kind.

No one has to hope now, we won the fucking election.

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