Barack Obama’s Stand With Unions in Wisconsin is Hurting Him


Supporting public sector unions in Wisconsin must be hurting Barack Obama. We know because he is using the New York Times to back away from his earlier statements and the tactics of his own Organizing for America.

In fact, the White House says the involvement of the DNC and OFA “were overblown from the start”, but even the Times can’t help but note

Before Mr. Obama complained late last week of an “assault” on the unions by the Republican governor in Wisconsin, Scott Walker, the Democratic Party had alerted its volunteers in Organizing for America to support the protests there and elsewhere, seeing an opening to show solidarity with the labor movement and rev up the party’s liberal base ahead of the 2012 elections.

By the weekend, national party officials were taking credit for encouraging the protests, especially through the use of Twitter and other online social networks.

The White House now is forced to claim the DNC and OFA went forward without talking to the White House political team. Riiiiggghhhhttttttt . . .

The question, of course, is why? Why the walk back and the distancing?

Let me suggest that this White House understands Barack Obama continues to do poorly in polling with independents. His gut and preference may be to side with the socialist hijackers of the taxpayers we call public sector unions, but he can’t be too bold and upfront. That hurts him with independents.

Nonetheless, we need to remember — it was Barack Obama’s own Organizing for America taking credit for the union antics in Wisconsin that have escalated to the verge of violence.


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24 Comments Leave a comment

Listening to you...

bcochran1981 Monday, February 21st at 11:00AM EDT (link)

on WOKV 690 here in NE Florida. Doin a great job. AND writing posts at the same time? Whether it be the Kraken, Thor’s Hammer or a Rockstar energy drink, you appear to be pretty energized right now. Keep it up!

You can fool all of the people some of the time, some of the people all the time and liberal voters every time.

 

Rasmussen has got Obama tanking to pre December

charliebravoNH (Diary) Monday, February 21st at 11:11AM EDT (link)

levels. Which is a beautiful thing. Support for Gov Walker is ten points higher than the Unions.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/

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ChBRVNH

 

Seems like BO keeps making the same mistake

veritaseequitas Monday, February 21st at 11:17AM EDT (link)

over and over again…he opens his mouth and invariably shoves his size 13.5 foot in it. Keep up the good work Barack!! Your chickens will be coming home to roost soon.

 

I have it on good authority that O still wears diapers

johnt Monday, February 21st at 11:21AM EDT (link)

Worse, he needs help putting them on.
They should have played it smart, keep it low key, don’t over commit, a little subtlety, recognize national conditions and moods, use your brains, Whoops!
I got carried away there, thought I was talking about Normal People, people with at least a modicum of intelligence.
And we are supposed to be the stupid ones.

“a man’s admiration for absolute government is proportinate to the contempt he feels for those around him”. Tocqueville

Even my two year old can put on her own diapers, but

earlgrey (Diary) Monday, February 21st at 11:36AM EDT (link)

I’d prefer she use the potty.

They did play in really safe on the Tuscon thing, which he should have come out right away to quiet the media speculation. Some things are just wrong and if you can’t even get that right, than how can we expect him to do the right thing in WI>

The thing is that his love for unions must be very close to his heart or he wouldn’t have come out so quickly. Just like the Cambridge thing. He really wanted to believe that guy was racist so he put his foot into his mouth.

It must be getting pretty crowded in BO's mouth. nt

chbroussard (Diary) Monday, February 21st at 4:22PM EDT (link)

Luv it!

soljerblue Tuesday, February 22nd at 11:01AM EDT (link)
 

It must be getting pretty crowded in BO's mouth. nt

chbroussard (Diary) Monday, February 21st at 4:22PM EDT (link)

One editorial writer opined

Flagstaff (Diary) Monday, February 21st at 4:58PM EDT (link)

that the primary thing President O’s statement about an “assault” on unions proved is that he’s in the pocket of the unions.

Hard to disagree. They gave him a lot of money, so they had room for him there.

Buffett Rule #1: “Tax rates don’t matter if you don’t pay your taxes”
– Unnamed tax adviser to Warren Buffett, Leavenworth, KS, 2011
Buffett Rule #2: “A parrot in every pot and two Volts in every garage”– Jimmy Buffett, at a seance in Margaritaville, 1977

 
 
 

This horse runs well

Goldwater_Conservative (Diary) Monday, February 21st at 11:24AM EDT (link)

kinda like the domestic energy expansion horse, the GOP needs to ride both of these horses as far as they can go. These types of issues unite so-cons, fi-cons and indys while putting Obama into a tiny corner with his union and EPA goons.

 

He can't be "bold and up front"...

macbookben (Diary) Monday, February 21st at 11:40AM EDT (link)

…because his style is more “lead from the rear.” Obama’s handlers don’t want him all bloodied up, so they have him perched back in the rear echelon where he can fall back while the NYT and the rest of the media give him covering fire. He’ll need the respite, too, because his rent-a-mob, what will be left of it, has a big campaign planned for Ohio.

Proud reformed liberal, born-again conservative (since 1999)

 

Spot the misnomer

citizenjerry Monday, February 21st at 11:45AM EDT (link)

Organizing for America may have changed their name once the man who would be God was elected, but their mission statement is still the original name: Organizing for Obama. Don’t blame this on America!

 

Let's drag it out.

Incredible (Diary) Monday, February 21st at 11:52AM EDT (link)

The left wants this fight between its unions and the taxpayers. The favorability of poll numbers that the Tea Parties put up, as evidenced in the recent elections, and expecially compared to the polling of ‘Public Unions’, shows where John Q Public stands. We would do well to drag this out in Wisconsin. We can win now, or we can win after tanking D brand in polling. In the game of political chess, we need to be thinking at least 3 moves ahead. If Wisconsinites are rushing to the ballots in 2012 to drive out the Dems, wouldn’t that drive the top of the ticket and help rid us of the Present President?

Am I missing some sort of downside?

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Thomas Jefferson

We don't have to drag it out. The dems/unions are doing fine

carolina Monday, February 21st at 4:17PM EDT (link)

all by themselves.
I agree with you. The longer this goes on, the worse it looks for the unions, imo.

and the longer it goes...

soljerblue Tuesday, February 22nd at 11:05AM EDT (link)

the better Governor Walker looks. :-)

I don’t think we’ve ever had a president from Wisconsin. Maybe it’s about time.

 
 
 

Let's drag it out.

Incredible (Diary) Monday, February 21st at 11:52AM EDT (link)

The left wants this fight between its unions and the taxpayers. The favorability of poll numbers that the Tea Parties put up, as evidenced in the recent elections, and expecially compared to the polling of ‘Public Unions’, shows where John Q Public stands. We would do well to drag this out in Wisconsin. We can win now, or we can win after tanking D brand in polling. In the game of political chess, we need to be thinking at least 3 moves ahead. If Wisconsinites are rushing to the ballots in 2012 to drive out the Dems, wouldn’t that drive the top of the ticket and help rid us of the Present President?

Am I missing some sort of downside?

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Thomas Jefferson

 

I don't see how he's trying to back away from anything

bk (Diary) Monday, February 21st at 11:59AM EDT (link)

It’s more like he’s trying to play both sides by saying meaningless on-the-fence gibberish, while giving a nudge nudge wink wink to the unions that when push comes to shove he’ll be on their side.

 

Where's that FDR quote on public employee unions?

Glaucon (Diary) Monday, February 21st at 12:13PM EDT (link)

Somebody needs to hit the Democrats over the head with those quotes from FDR opposing public employee Unions. Then again maybe somebody already did.

glaucon, FDR quote

sharonmcp (Diary) Monday, February 21st at 4:38PM EDT (link)

Here’s a link to not just the quote, but the entire letter.

Letter on the Resolution of Federation of Federal Employees Against Strikes in Federal Service

“Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.” ~ Ronald Reagan

Thanks!

Glaucon (Diary) Wednesday, February 23rd at 3:25PM EDT (link)

That will come in handy.

 
 
 

Could it be because even some of his media flackies are starting to call him out

sharonmcp (Diary) Monday, February 21st at 4:22PM EDT (link)

In a Washington Post piece posted on Saturday by editorial writer Charles Lane:

…. anger and vilification are once again the order of the day — and the incivility emanates from the progressive end of the spectrum, including, no doubt, many of the same people who blamed right-wing vitriol for creating a climate of violence in Arizona. Union-backed demonstrators, furious at Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s plans for reining in public-sector unions, equate him with Hosni Mubarak and Adolf Hitler, in disgusting mimickry of some Tea Party members’ inflammatory linkage between Obama and the evil dictators of history.

Meanwhile, progressive voices in the media fanned the flames, spreading misinformation and outright falsehoods with a zest that would make Glenn Beck blush: Gov. Walker wants to crush unions with the National Guard; he manufactured a budget crisis to justify his attack on unions; he proposed cutting union workers’ pay 20 percent. Neutral sources have debunked it all, but as far as I know only Ezra Klein among these tribunes of truth has seen fit to correct the record.

And, of course, thousands of teachers have abandoned their classrooms to join a boisterous crowd intimidating and obstructing the elected state legislature in Madison — in scenes reminiscent of the Tea Party’s mobbing of Democrats on Capitol Hill during the health-care debate…

Perhaps most disappointing of all is that the president himself, rather than living up to the words he spoke so eloquently in Tuscon, has chosen to fuel the fury on the Great Lakes. He labeled Walker’s legislation “an assault on unions,” while the White House political operation bused in more demonstrators to join those waving Walker = Hitler placards. These are the words and deeds of a partisan politician, not a national leader.

On Joe Klein’s Time’s Swampland blog on Friday:

…Isn’t it, well, a bit ironic that the protesters in Madison, blocking the state senate chamber, are chanting “Freedom, Democracy, Union” while trying to prevent a vote? Isn’t it ironic that the Democratic Senators have fled the democratic process? Isn’t it interesting that some of those who–rightly–protest the assorted Republican efforts to stymie majority rule in the U.S. Senate are celebrating the Democratic efforts to stymie the same in the Wisconsin Senate?

An election was held in Wisconsin last November. The Republicans won. In a democracy, there are consequences to elections and no one, not even the public employees unions, are exempt from that. There are no guarantees that labor contracts, including contracts governing the most basic rights of unions, can’t be renegotiated, or terminated for that matter. We hold elections to decide those basic parameters. And it seems to me that Governor Scott Walker’s basic requests are modest ones–asking public employees to contribute more to their pension and health care plans, though still far less than most private sector employees do. He is also trying to limit the unions’ abilities to negotiate work rules–and this is crucial when it comes to the more efficient operation of government in a difficult time.

Heck, even Christiane Amanpour, from All Barak Channel, offered up a fair and balanced discussion yesterday “This Week”.

Tea Partier Joins George Will in Great Debate About Wisconsin

“Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.” ~ Ronald Reagan

Isn't it odd...

jlsankot Tuesday, February 22nd at 7:01AM EDT (link)

First, thank you for your post.

Isn’t it odd that the unions are in the tank to “redistribute the wealth”, but put on the brakes when it’s time to redistribute the sacrifice? Guess it’s just a mentality that I will never understand.

 
 

Flush

danandsis Tuesday, February 22nd at 6:03AM EDT (link)

The boy leader of our country decided to dive into the bowl along with all the other thug controlled unions so all we have to do in 2012 is pull the handle for just disposal.

 

Unethical doctors writing fraudulent excuses

doubledok Tuesday, February 22nd at 9:47AM EDT (link)

for teachers attending the Madison protests should be delicensed and charged with fraud, criminal conspiracy, abetting criminal activity after the fact, and sentenced! The minimal impact should be that they will be excluded from participating in insurances and medicare and medicaid after felony convictions. Susbequently, hospital privileges will melt away and voila – more teachers!

Give no quarter in the fight for your life!