The Barack Obama Watch: Today’s Labor Rally in Chicago
Senator Obama:... That was two years ago, I was still running [for the U. S. Senate] at that time. Didn’t nobody know who I was. You remember that, Rose? I think maybe one reporter came. Didn’t have no cameras
everywhere...
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Cong. Jan Schakowsky [D- Evanston, 9th CD]: … my brothers and sisters, it is a new day in our nation’s capital... it’s a new day for all our working Americans who dream of the justice that ONLY the Union Movement can deliver. And, to the doubters I say, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Just wait until we have a Labor Department under President Barack Obama.
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Speaking in a vernacular and cadence that showed the Harvard Law School and Columbia University trained Barack Obama can connect with working class people, the third year U. S. Senator wowed and energized a mostly labor union crowd of about 1600 supporters this morning, with about 400 seats in the Hyatt Regency Chicago Loop Grand Ballroom left empty. The audience was about half minority and half white.
As Democratic Primary Presidential Candidate Obama entered the room, one could sense the same surge of energy that has greeted his appearances around the nation. It is a charisma and crowd appeal that has baffled even his wife, Michelle, going back to his U. S. Senate campaign. Whatever the reason for the appeal, it is real and undeniable, except perhaps by Republican partisans and maybe some of Obama’s competitors for the Democratic Presidential nomination.
The event attracted some of Labor’s big hitters to join Obama on the dais and speak, including John Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO and Gerald McEntee, President of AFSCME. Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky [D-Evanston, 9th CD], an early and big-time supporter of Obama’s in the 2004 Senate Primary and Senator Dick Durbin [D-IL] also spoke [although Durbin apparently had to leave before Obama spoke]. Obama spoke for about eighteen minutes and the event, itself, lasted a little more than an hour.
Eight other individuals spoke at the rally, including local labor leaders and health care workers, as well as a local favorite for liberals, Dr. Quentin Young.
Senator Obama spoke, among other things, about the importance of the labor movement to American workers and about how important the so-called “Employee Free Choice Act,” which recently passed the House, is to that movement. Presidential candidate Obama argued that if the workers want a union, they should have it, but he did not explain why the employees should not be entitled to a secret ballot when they vote on whether or not to be represented by a union and if so, by which union. Cong. Schakowsky touched on this point, but did not elaborate.
Senator Obama, as has become in large part his practice since becoming a Presidential candidate, was unavailable to the media after his speech to answer questions. For example, it would be interesting to know why he is not concerned about the loss of a secret ballot for Employees under the legislation he favors, what he thinks the reason is that only thirteen percent of the American labor force is unionized, etc.
Excerpts of Cong. Schakowsky’s and Senator Obama’s remarks are included, below, along with a brief description of the protest that took place during the event:
Cong. Jan Schakowsky [D-Evanston, 9th CD]: … Employers can intimidate, fire, threaten to move people from the day shift to the graveyard. These elections [to determine if a specific union will represent employees] may [currently] be secret, but they are not fair…these leaders at Resurrection Hospital and at so many companies are not fools because they know that today in America, they can deny workers their rights and get away with it but my brothers and sisters, it is a new day in our nation’s capital, it’s a new day for Resurrection workers and their friends, it’s a new day for immigrant workers, it’s a new day for all our working Americans who dream of the justice that ONLY the Union Movement can deliver. And, to the doubters I say, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Just wait until we have a Labor Department under President Barack Obama.
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Senator Barack Obama:[D- IL]: …the last time that we got together to talk about organizing at Resurrection [Hospital] was at St. Viator up on the Northwest Side [of Chicago]. That was two years ago, I was still running [for the U. S. Senate] at that time. Didn’t nobody know who I was. You remember that, Rose? I think maybe one reporter came. Didn’t have no cameras everywhere. Although times have changed, we still have the fight on our hands….and this week we took another step on that journey thanks to people like [Cong.] Jan Schakowsky [D-9th CD] when the House of Representatives said …if most workers want an organization, if most workers want a union, then they should get a union and now we are going to make sure that the Senate passes the Employee Free Choice Act, too…we may have to wait for the next President to sign it but we will pass it…
[At which point, the speech was briefly interrupted by a few protesters, about 100 yards in front of Senator Obama, unfurling a banner and shouting out something about war (next time they should make it two sided, so Obama and the cameras can see it); in this instance the banner print faced Obama and not the cameras; But, apparently, the protest had something to do with a War in Iran [see here]]
Senator Obama: Well, there we go, we got a banner, that’s right. We’ve got to make sure that we don’t have a war here. We agree with that. Absolutely. Okay, we appreciate that. We agree with you. Thank you.
Protester: We don’t want our kids dying for oil… [At which point, security appeared, collapsed the banner and quickly strong-armed the protestors out of the room. Unlike the Obama event of three weeks ago at the University of Illinois, Chicago, no patience was shown for the protesters at this labor rally. Presumably, AFSCME Council 31, the event’s primary sponsor, retained the hard-nosed security. The irony of AFSCME’s apparent zero tolerance for protest appears to have been lost on the crowd, and perhaps even on Senator Obama]
Senator Obama: All right. We’ll wait till- We appreciate you. We appreciate that. Now, the sister might not have known I opposed the war in Iraq. And, I have consistently opposed it. That’s Okay. That’s good. Now, where was I? We know there is more work to do. We know we are here at a challenging time for American workers from nurses here in Chicago to correctional officers in Atlanta to sanitation workers in L.A…
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everywhere...
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Cong. Jan Schakowsky [D- Evanston, 9th CD]: … my brothers and sisters, it is a new day in our nation’s capital... it’s a new day for all our working Americans who dream of the justice that ONLY the Union Movement can deliver. And, to the doubters I say, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Just wait until we have a Labor Department under President Barack Obama.
************************************************
Speaking in a vernacular and cadence that showed the Harvard Law School and Columbia University trained Barack Obama can connect with working class people, the third year U. S. Senator wowed and energized a mostly labor union crowd of about 1600 supporters this morning, with about 400 seats in the Hyatt Regency Chicago Loop Grand Ballroom left empty. The audience was about half minority and half white.
As Democratic Primary Presidential Candidate Obama entered the room, one could sense the same surge of energy that has greeted his appearances around the nation. It is a charisma and crowd appeal that has baffled even his wife, Michelle, going back to his U. S. Senate campaign. Whatever the reason for the appeal, it is real and undeniable, except perhaps by Republican partisans and maybe some of Obama’s competitors for the Democratic Presidential nomination.
The event attracted some of Labor’s big hitters to join Obama on the dais and speak, including John Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO and Gerald McEntee, President of AFSCME. Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky [D-Evanston, 9th CD], an early and big-time supporter of Obama’s in the 2004 Senate Primary and Senator Dick Durbin [D-IL] also spoke [although Durbin apparently had to leave before Obama spoke]. Obama spoke for about eighteen minutes and the event, itself, lasted a little more than an hour.
Eight other individuals spoke at the rally, including local labor leaders and health care workers, as well as a local favorite for liberals, Dr. Quentin Young.
Senator Obama spoke, among other things, about the importance of the labor movement to American workers and about how important the so-called “Employee Free Choice Act,” which recently passed the House, is to that movement. Presidential candidate Obama argued that if the workers want a union, they should have it, but he did not explain why the employees should not be entitled to a secret ballot when they vote on whether or not to be represented by a union and if so, by which union. Cong. Schakowsky touched on this point, but did not elaborate.
Senator Obama, as has become in large part his practice since becoming a Presidential candidate, was unavailable to the media after his speech to answer questions. For example, it would be interesting to know why he is not concerned about the loss of a secret ballot for Employees under the legislation he favors, what he thinks the reason is that only thirteen percent of the American labor force is unionized, etc.
Excerpts of Cong. Schakowsky’s and Senator Obama’s remarks are included, below, along with a brief description of the protest that took place during the event:
Cong. Jan Schakowsky [D-Evanston, 9th CD]: … Employers can intimidate, fire, threaten to move people from the day shift to the graveyard. These elections [to determine if a specific union will represent employees] may [currently] be secret, but they are not fair…these leaders at Resurrection Hospital and at so many companies are not fools because they know that today in America, they can deny workers their rights and get away with it but my brothers and sisters, it is a new day in our nation’s capital, it’s a new day for Resurrection workers and their friends, it’s a new day for immigrant workers, it’s a new day for all our working Americans who dream of the justice that ONLY the Union Movement can deliver. And, to the doubters I say, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Just wait until we have a Labor Department under President Barack Obama.
************************************************
Senator Barack Obama:[D- IL]: …the last time that we got together to talk about organizing at Resurrection [Hospital] was at St. Viator up on the Northwest Side [of Chicago]. That was two years ago, I was still running [for the U. S. Senate] at that time. Didn’t nobody know who I was. You remember that, Rose? I think maybe one reporter came. Didn’t have no cameras everywhere. Although times have changed, we still have the fight on our hands….and this week we took another step on that journey thanks to people like [Cong.] Jan Schakowsky [D-9th CD] when the House of Representatives said …if most workers want an organization, if most workers want a union, then they should get a union and now we are going to make sure that the Senate passes the Employee Free Choice Act, too…we may have to wait for the next President to sign it but we will pass it…
[At which point, the speech was briefly interrupted by a few protesters, about 100 yards in front of Senator Obama, unfurling a banner and shouting out something about war (next time they should make it two sided, so Obama and the cameras can see it); in this instance the banner print faced Obama and not the cameras; But, apparently, the protest had something to do with a War in Iran [see here]]
Senator Obama: Well, there we go, we got a banner, that’s right. We’ve got to make sure that we don’t have a war here. We agree with that. Absolutely. Okay, we appreciate that. We agree with you. Thank you.
Protester: We don’t want our kids dying for oil… [At which point, security appeared, collapsed the banner and quickly strong-armed the protestors out of the room. Unlike the Obama event of three weeks ago at the University of Illinois, Chicago, no patience was shown for the protesters at this labor rally. Presumably, AFSCME Council 31, the event’s primary sponsor, retained the hard-nosed security. The irony of AFSCME’s apparent zero tolerance for protest appears to have been lost on the crowd, and perhaps even on Senator Obama]
Senator Obama: All right. We’ll wait till- We appreciate you. We appreciate that. Now, the sister might not have known I opposed the war in Iraq. And, I have consistently opposed it. That’s Okay. That’s good. Now, where was I? We know there is more work to do. We know we are here at a challenging time for American workers from nurses here in Chicago to correctional officers in Atlanta to sanitation workers in L.A…
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