President Barack Obama tended to his frayed relations with Big Labor on Friday, assuring leaders he won’t short-change workers while negotiating with energized Republicans and reaching out to the business community.
The president met at the White House with a dozen labor leaders, led by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, to discuss how they can join forces to promote economic growth and job creation. The meeting comes just days after Obama’s extended huddle with Wall Street and corporate executives, seeking common ground along with ideas to encourage business investment and employment.
Trumka said afterward that the president reaffirmed his support for the labor movement but added that both sides avoided topics of conflict — including the new tax deal Obama brokered with Republicans and signed into law in a Friday afternoon ceremony, a move that unions opposed.
“We didn’t talk about any specific issues that occurred before today,” said Trumka outside the White House, while inside Obama delivered a speech before signing the tax bill. “The president and each one of us have stated our positions on each one of those things.”
Let's see - Obama just negotiated an extension of the Bush tax cuts for rich people, raised taxes on individuals making less than $20,000 and families less than $40,000, is promoting a free trade agreement with South Korea that will ship hundreds of thousands of union jobs overseas, and is pushing an anti-union teacher bashing agenda that privileges laying off veteran union teachers and replacing them with non-unionized Teach For America wanna-be's and he says he's ON THE SIDE of labor?
Holy shit, could you imagine if he wasn't on labor's side?
But of course it's a joke for this president to say that he is on the side of labor.
He despises union members, despises traditional Dems, has set up plenty of policies to screw labor and traditional Democratic constituencies.
On the other hand, Big Business despises Obama but he desperately wants their love.
Think I'm kidding - here's how he treated CEO's at the White House this week as compared to Big Labor:
The differences in the arrangements made for the president’s meeting with Big Labor and his Wednesday session with Big Business, however, spoke volumes.
Looking to repair strained relations after a year of trash talk between the White House and Wall Street over health care, executive compensation and financial reform, Obama and his aides set up the meeting with corporate titans as though it were a visit with foreign heads of state. The five-hour session was held at the posh Blair House — the official presidential guest residence — and TV cameras rolled as Obama strolled through the White House gates and crossed Pennsylvania Avenue for the meeting.
“The symbolism, to me, was that he was trying to elevate the importance, first of all, and wanted to make it clear that he was coming out to meet them halfway,” said an aide to one of the CEOs in the meeting.
By contrast, the president met the union heads inside the West Wing, out of public view, and their 90-minute session took place in the Roosevelt Room, an at-hand conference room just outside the Oval Office. The agenda was less formal and didn’t include extensive presentations, as was the case with the CEOs, but the leaders apparently did not feel snubbed.
“The way I would put it is, that there is no outreach needed with labor,” said an aide to one of the union presidents at the meeting. “We know we’re on the same side, so I think it starts out as a friendlier conversation.”
Let me translate the bullshit that is "No outreach needed with labor."
That means "They take us for granted and know we will keep supporting them no matter how many times they screw us, sell us out or betray us."
Hey, maybe if labor didn't avoid topics of conflict with this president and instead said, "Hey, screw us once, shame on you, screw us twice, we'll make sure you get sent back to Chicago in a Yugo," maybe he'd stop screwing them.
But instead they have this codependent relationship with him and the abuse, the screwings, the beatings and the sell-outs continue.
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