Yesterday I wrote of my attempt to get the Obama team on the record to reaffirm its support for the Employee Free Choice Act after Rahm Emanuel demurred on the question when asked. Team Obama has now responded:
An aide to Barack Obama reaffirmed the President-elect’s support for the labor movement’s chief legislative priority in a one-word statement issued to the Huffington Post on late Tuesday.
Asked if Obama’s support for the Employee Free Choice Act remained as strong as his public proclamations suggested on the campaign trail, transition spokesman Dan Pfeiffer responded, succinctly, "Yes."
The reaffirmation may not seem like a political breakthrough on its surface. But in the current political climate, in which the Obama team has steadfastly refused to comment on various legislative priorities, it does signal that the President-elect is not shying away from progressive pledges made during his campaign.
Moreover, it clears the air of some confusion that was prompted by a statement from Rahm Emanuel in late November.
Kudos to the Obama team for clearing that up. I would have been happy to have gotten that such a statement when I asked for one, and would have printed it.
The statement is not exactly a response to the question I asked, but it does help to clear up any mixed signals that got sent in the wake of Rahm Emanuel’s comments.
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thanks for the good news pach.
Thanks Pach.
Yay!
Thanks for the info Pach! Every bit of positive info is a good thing for all of us to know.
thank you for beating the bushes on this one Pachacutec !
and good news to boot !
This is really great news. It’s time for the unions to be strong again.
1. Pach….. very happy to see you back posting…
2. So glad to hear that Obama is still very committed on passing Employee Free Choice
So sick of the anti commercials they keep running in this right to work and at will employment state……
Ditto!
Btw, how are you? Where have you been?
This is truly great news. It is going to provoke a Republican filibuster, so I imagine Obama has sent out the word to Reid that he is going to have to force the old codgers actually to stand up in the Senate and read from the old telephone books, while their pages hold a tin cup for them to pee in.
Let’s not forget that Obama started out as a community organizer, and that he chose to go that route rather than do Corporate Law or clerk for the Supremes. I think we are going to see a lot more surprises from our new President.
The people you asked for an answer have no power, Pach. Hence no answer. They’re there to “yes” us and try to keep us pacified, as Sirota noted.
It’s a testament to your — and our — reach that Team Obama felt compelled, at a level far above the “blog pacifiers,” to answer at all.
slightly off-topic yet still tangential to the future of the EFCA…
i suspect, though it could be just wishful thinking, that PE Obama is wisely accumulating the compliments of Rove, Kissinger, Lieberman, Limbaugh etc. on the ‘quality’ of his revealed cabinet choices in anticipation of using that political capital to offset the howling that will ensue when all of the USA’s are dismissed on day one. for what Bush/Gonzales/DOJ US Attorney could be expected to properly investigate/enforce such a law as EFCA ?
Maybe. But if they are telling the truth, this is a really big deal, bigger than just the union movement’s particular concern.
Here’s the point. The stock market capitalizes absolutely everything having to do with a company’s bottom line. So what you say? Well, if you take a small amount of money (like the extra pay in a union contract) and you discount it at the currently low interest rate, you get a humungously big number. That number is subtracted from the pre-contract value of the company, and it comes directly out of the pocket of the CEO’s and other high corporate officers who get paid in stock or are rewarded by the funds for making the share price grow. Any serious attempt at getting our nation back on track means reversing the horrible measures that have been taken since Reagan’s day and before to enhance corporate bottom lines at the expense of the public good. The libertarians make a big deal about ‘free-riding’, but the biggest free riders in our recent economic history have been the executives and owners of corporations whose profits come from free-riding on the common good.
end of rant. but I think this is really big.
I just want to say I’ve missed you too Parachutec and I am so proud of what you did to hold their feet to the fire on this essential piece of legislation. Thank you for letting us know, so much!!
Next question is Rahm pushing and leaking his own policies and pretending that their Obama’s? Ramh might think this is very Machiavellian and very Realpolitik.
But it not, is very Amateur hour stuff its obvious not subtle the key phrase don’t get caught is lost on him.
I think Rahm’s rep as a Politician might be over blown
No not wishful thinking at all but will our Dem talking heads be forceful on that point? We have great ideas but our *cough* talking heads suck at standing up for themselves.
Been right here….. mostly lurking as I still have the brain power of a gnat
I agree great news and the GOP will fight us on this big. Short term companies that exploit low wage workers the most will go down.
Long term the economy will grow better and faster if you water the roots rather than just mist the leaves on top.
Ferns you might get away with that, but trees and other deep root plants which I hope mankind is need lots of water at the roots.
New post up top…
Thank you Pach.
Hmmm. A President-Elect who listens?
Keep talking, good man. ;->