Wake Up and Smell the Hypocrisy!

By Bob Daraio

Broadcast Union News

Summary of  Dem Legislative agenda results

BOHICA (bend over, here it comes again), an old military acronym, that is what comes to mind as the November 2012 election draws ever closer.

The upcoming Democratic National Convention, you know, "the Party of the Labor movement" is being held in anti-union Charlotte, N.C. 

In early September, the Democratic Party leadership, the folks that failed to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, failed to pass the Fair Paycheck Act, managed to avoid filling over 100 vacant Federal Judgeships, avoided the fights against the anti-union GOP in Wisconsin and across the USA like the plague, and avoided the Occupy Wall Street movement with alacrity, will meet to reaffirm their support for President Obama and his lackluster labor policies. 

Lets all stand up and... yawn? Cheer? Perhaps a Bronx cheer?

The Non-union hotels; Hilton Charlotte Center City and the Westin Charlotte, will be the headquarters and base of operations for the Democratic National Convention, the Democratic National Committee, and Obama for America. .On Thursday, September 6, 2012, President Obama will accept the nomination of the DNC at Bank of America Stadium. 

Somehow this says it all.

In a Philadelphia Daily News article by staff writers Chris Brennan and Catherine Lucey about the  "Workers Stand for America" rally in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Saturday that drew over 30,000 union members,  John Dougherty, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98's business manager, said that labor has been in a "complacency coma."

I agree, we keep throwing good money after bad in support of Democrats that throw us under the bus so consistently, I wish I had gone to diesel mechanic school.

We need to stop giving Democratic candidates our hard earned cash, and use it instead for a campaign to get union members to become Democratic Party district leaders so we can choose pro-labor candidates and put them on the ballot instead.

Brennan and Lucey interviewed University of Illinois labor professor Bob Bruno, who said the unions are "trying to walk a fine line with a goal of remaining allies with the Democrats, while still advocating for a pro-labor agenda." Bruno continued; "Historically the Democratic Party has been a much friendlier party to organized labor, But the paradox is, because there is no other good choice, they find themselves having to support a party that — certainly since the Bill Clinton era — is less robust for organized labor."

Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia, predicts that while union members who voted for Obama in 2008 won't support presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, there is concern that they will just not vote at all this year, which could spell disaster for President Obama's re-election hopes.

The President's failure to make good on his promise to "buy a new pair of sneakers" and join union members on the picket lines during his first term has made it difficult for many labor activists to marshal much enthusiasm for this election campaign. 

Photo credit: Sodahead.com

The problem is, there is much disillusionment with the Democratic Party, with many union members seeing little difference between the rich corporate contributors that control the Dems and the other rich corporate moguls that control the GOP. (Perhaps all elected officials should be required to wear NASCAR type jackets covered with the names of their corporate sponsors, so we'd know who we are really speaking to.)

We all know that Mitt Romney would be an even worse choice for the White House, but it is difficult summon up the enthusiasm for a get out the vote effort for the Democratic Party candidate whose campaign is based on "The alternative is a lot worse" slogan.

That said, the alternative is really, really a whole lot worse. 

Mitt Romney makes no bones about his support for a GOP budget plan that scraps Medicare and cuts medical benefits for millions of Americans, guts Social Security; gives even more tax breaks to millionaires at the expense of the working class; and will continue to use our tax dollars to subsidize corporations that off-shore U.S. jobs. Mitt intends to eliminate what small Wall Street safeguards currently exist, remove EPA protections, and whole heartedly supports a free market unfettered by any meaningful regulation of finance or damage to the environment. 

Yikes!

So, once again, the choice is clear, the road is hard, and yes, even if we win, we really only lose less. I won't give the President one dime of my hard earned money, nor will I ask my union sisters and brothers to do so, but I will show up and vote for a second term for President Obama and will continue to lobby everyone else to do so as well. I just won't be happy about it.

Oh, and before I forget, Hooray.