CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
– POLITICS
Aug. 24, 2008 – 9:10 p.m.
Union Officials Worry Racism in the Ranks Is Hurting Obama
By Shawn Zeller, CQ Staff
AFL-CIO Political Director Karen Ackerman says she believes racism is playing a role in limiting Barack Obama ’s appeal to some union members, but she said union leaders were making a concerted effort to overcome prejudice among their members.
“We feel there is a racial component for some union members,” she said Sunday. “We feel confident we can overcome it.”
Ackerman said the AFL-CIO has launched a $53.4 million grass-roots campaign to convince union members to come out for Obama, including mailing 1 million pieces of direct mail this week touting Obama to union members in four states expected to be battlegrounds: Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
She said that disputes among AFL-CIO member unions over whom to endorse in the presidential race — 12 member unions previously endorsed New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton — have been resolved and that the AFL-CIO was “now moving forward with a very unified program.”
But Ackerman acknowledged Obama’s struggles during the primary campaign to win over white workers without college degrees and said it was the union’s job to make the case for Obama.
“There has never been an African-American candidate for president and many folks around this country have never voted for an African-American candidate for any office,” she said. So Ackerman said union leadership is urging local union officials to reach out on a one-to-one basis to members resistant to voting for a black candidate. “We’ve had a lot of discussions about how to talk to union voters . . . to identify closely what issue is preventing some union voters” from considering a black candidate.
But AFL-CIO officials said that white union members already are more supportive of Obama than working class whites who are not union members and that turning out union voters in key states could make the difference in the campaign. At the same time, Ackerman said that if the AFL-CIO fails to turn out union voters in just Ohio and Michigan, Obama would have a less than one percent chance of defeating presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain , R-Ariz.
Ackerman said the AFL-CIO was bombarding 3 million swing voters in key states with direct mail pieces attacking McCain for running negative ads against Obama, while also pointing out that McCain’s personal wealth means he would be “more responsive to corporate interests than workers’ interests.”
On Sept. 4, the day McCain will accept the GOP nomination in St. Paul, union members plan to parade in what Ackerman termed “massive walks” in support of Obama around the country.
Ackerman said the AFL-CIO is also trying to turn out support for 61 House candidates and 11 in the Senate. “Our goal is not just to elect Barack Obama but to build a progressive movement,” she said.
Quid Pro Quo
At a separate briefing Sunday, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Andy Stern clarified that he’s expecting a lot in return for his union’s $85 million grass-roots and advertising campaign on behalf of Obama and pro-union members of Congress and challengers.
The union is pledging $10 million to go toward ensuring “accountability” among the newly elected during the first 100 days of the 111th Congress starting next January. Stern expects SEIU-backed candidates who win election in November to move legislation to provide health care to every American and pass legislation making it easier for workers to unionize.
Union Officials Worry Racism in the Ranks Is Hurting Obama
“Our goal is to have the same number of people on the ground and the same level of activity” after the election as before, Stern said. “We’re not going to be a lapdog, but a watchdog.”
Pointing out how the SEIU played a big role earlier this year in defeating Maryland Democratic Rep. Al Wynn — the national union supported his primary challenger Donna Edwards with an aggressive TV ad campaign – Stern said he would “paint a target” on any member who accepts SEIU backing in the election but fails to follow through on the union’s agenda in 2009.
Comments
Unions should remember that the Democrats are the only party that really cares about them. If the Republicans had their say and used their clout, they would abolish them forever. What difference does it make the color of a person's skin. What matters is that the person cares about you.
Come on guys... I'm from Alabama (born 1950) and grew up when we had "colored" bathrooms and water fountains. I vividly recall when blacks rode in the back of the bus, had "colored day" at the state fairs, and had their own schools. My dad was an officer on the B'ham Fire Dep't and was involved in hosing down MLK and his marchers in B'ham in 1963. I've changed and am a rabid Obama supporter. Wake up, it's 2008. Can't we let racism in America just die and vote for the man or woman who offers us a way our of the mess we're currently in?
I cannot believe that one would rather destroy this country then vote for a black man. What is wrong with us?
As a proud blck man and at one time a union member I thank you Michael Conner for standing up for what is right.
I now know why white working class in places such as PA and OH want their gun rights. They want to use it to hunt game to provide for their families after they vote for McCain and their jobs are sent abroad. They definitely will need it!
90% of blacks are voting for Obama and this is about racist whites? I'm still waiting for a member of the press to be truthfull and address this isue, but all we'll hear about is how rasist whites are for not voting Obama. When 90% of whites vote McCain I'll listen, but I'm still waiting about the racist blacks article.
The percentage of blacks who are voting for Obama is not very different from the percentage of balcks who votede for kerry, Gore or Clinton. Perhpas the black community does not like the way it has been treated by the Republican party e.g.Healthcare. Katrina
Union Bosses support Obma not rank and file members. Blue collar and small town americans cant trust their families security to a slick talking lawyer with no experience. sorry, one speech does not make the man.
Should we destroy the country just to prove we would vote for a black man? Why the Democrats get any loyaly from black voters I do not understand. They past the first Jim Crow laws. The KKK and the knights of the white camelias were the terrorist enforcers for the Democratic Party. They fought the civil rights act of 1964. The only reason Kenedy had in his request to congress to consider the act was the fear of civil unrest. Pres Johnson only signed it because he was afraid of the "n----- preacher" stirring up trouble. Speaking of that preacher, Dr Martin Luther King Jr was a republican. Political parties don't send jobs over seas, high taxes, unfavorable business cliamates. Ask the meatcutters at Walmart what unions did for them. Recession slow economy will decrease number of jobs and wages and benefits. Prosperity will bring more jobs and better pay and benefits. With or without unions.
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