Doing the right thing won't win the White House

The unions don't get it.

And if the Democratic Party finally realizes this, it might actually forgo blowing the 2008 presidential race the way it managed to dazzlingly lose the last two elections.

Democrat Barack Obama has about the same shot as Republican Mitt Romney to snatch the AFL-CIO endorsement. Mark Gaffney, the blunt and witty Michigan head of the nation's largest labor organization, more than hinted at that this month in Detroit.

So what crime did Obama commit? Did he call for a Right to Work law? Sanction sweatshops in Shanghai? Was he caught indiscriminately scratching himself on YouTube?

No, the junior senator from Illinois committed heresy by calling out automakers for stymieing a modest hike in fuel efficiency standards.

"Don't count (Obama) out," Gaffney told me at a June 9 Hillary Clinton town hall. "But he probably doesn't have as good a chance as other candidates who understand manufacturing better."

Translation: Look for the union to go for the safe picks of Sens. Clinton or John Edwards. We get them. They get us.Courage and independent thought will get you nowhere. Certainly not the $100 million the union shelled out in the 2006 election.

Armed with scientific evidence, Obama argues it's crucial to cut emissions to halt global warming. He says reducing oil consumption is a vital part of homeland security.

He knows this idea is as popular with labor as his support of merit-based pay for teachers.

"I hope I can always go to my union friends and explain why my position makes sense, how it's consistent with both my values and their long-term interests," Obama writes in his 2006 book, "The Audacity of Hope."

Yes, it's a bitter pill for struggling automakers. Workers worry they'll pay the price, having hemorrhaged 80,000-plus in buyouts and knowing a $25-per-hour pay cut coming down the pike. After all, Ford execs aren't in the mood for sacrifice, as they still enjoy millions in bonuses after losing a record $12.7 billion last year.

But it's reality-check time. The domestic auto industry, whose strong suit has never been long-term thinking (Remember how gas-guzzling SUVs would save the Big Three, 'cause 99-cent gas would last forever?) has to realize upping fuel efficiency is the only way to compete in a global market. American models just won't be able to sell in Europe or Asia, where their emissions standards put ours to shame.

The right answers aren't always the easy ones. To train the workforce of tomorrow in Michigan, we need to pour millions more into public universities. Yes, it's easier to slash higher ed rather than fix the structural deficit.

But it's just stupid. And we will pay dearly for that mistake.Politicians who buck party and power, like Robert F. Kennedy and John McCain version 1.0, often pay their own price.As a senator, RFK was never a labor darling and had his anti-poverty bills blocked time and time again, often by fellow Democrats.

He wasn't politically correct. In 1968, an Indiana University medical student demanded where Kennedy would get the money for his universal health care plan.Kennedy's blithe reply? "From you."

Back in 2000, McCain declared some religious right leaders "are corrupting influences on religion and politics" and "shame our faith, our party and our country." After a stinging defeat to now-President Bush, McCain 2.0 now is fervidly courting those he castigated with little success.

What choice does he have? He wants to win. And to win a GOP primary, you kow-tow to Right to Life and the Christian Coalition. Just like Democrats have to kiss the rings of labor leaders, though with only 12 percent of the country unionized, it's not as strong a litmus test.

Interestingly, McCain once compared Pat Robertson to "union bosses who have subordinated the interests of working families to their own ambitions."

It's all part of the dance of a broken primary system that caters to extremes, greased by special interests. The center where most of us wade in ye old political spectrum never holds.

This breeds a sorry cynicism in America that will never dissipate without public financing of elections.

Because unions, ideological groups and business lobbies would rather fund a candidate who spews the party line than does the right thing. Often ideology will even trump electability.

So there's a strong possibility iconoclast Obama will be sacrificed by the elders of his party, just as maverick McCain was by his seven years ago. That would be a damn shame.But that's something for which Obama himself likely is prepared.

As he prophetically wrote last year: "What's troubling is the gap between the magnitude of our challenges and the smallness of our politics."

Clinton sings right song to labor crowd

By Susan J. Demas
The Enquirer

DETROIT –- Hillary Rodham Clinton seized the opportunity Saturday in front of a riveted labor crowd to distinguish herself from her chief presidential rival, fellow U.S. senator Barack Obama.

Clinton, 59, bypassed criticizing the Big Three automakers for low fuel efficiency standards, in contrast to Obama, who last month at the Detroit Economic Club laid into automakers for blocking a transformation of U.S. energy and environmental policies.

Unlike Obama, D-Ill., Clinton would not commit to a Senate bill to raise by 2020 fuel efficiency standards to 35 m.p.g., also known as CAFE standards.

Instead, the Democratic frontrunner from New York called for a “win-win” strategy of the government and auto industry teaming up to invest in new technologies, buoyed by a national health care system she said would take a significant financial burden off employers. Clinton fingered soaring legacy costs for “dragging down the Big Three” in a global market.

“People keep telling me they’re worried about me taking this up again,” said Clinton, referring to her failed health plan during the first term of her husband, President Bill Clinton. “Worried? I can’t wait to take it on again.”

The 90-minute town hall before about 700 union members was part of the AFL-CIO’s eight-part series with leading Democratic presidential hopefuls in cities across the country. It concludes with a multi-candidate forum Aug. 7 in Chicago.

Hillary Clinton stressed her choice to appear in a city famous for its union history.

“When I was asked where I wanted to go, I said one place,” she said, pausing for effect. “Detroit.”

Delivering a 20-minute domestic-focused speech at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union hall, Clinton called for laws making it easier for workers to organize, universal pre-kindergarten and fairer student loans.

The forum then was opened to audience members. UAW member Dave Berry, 43, said he is still grappling with the aftermath of Ford Motor Co.’s shuttering of its Wixom plant in May.

“We understand what it takes to be competitive,” said the Fowlerville resident. “We understand what the customer wants.”

His experience underscored the recent exodus of more than 80,000 Big Three workers from plants, many in Michigan. Berry blamed U.S. trade policy, and asked what Clinton would do to change it.

Clinton vowed to take a “hard look” at every trade agreement, saying as president, she would appoint a trade prosecutor.

Earlier at the town hall, she blasted the Bush Administration for an $800 billion trade deficit, calling China the United States’ “banker.”

“We are borrowing money for body armor for our troops,” said Clinton, who also vowed to end the Iraq war once she’s in the Oval Office.

Organized labor remains a powerful force in a changing Democratic Party, boasting a $100 million get out the vote drive in 2006. The nation’s largest labor organization likely will endorse a candidate by the end of the year, said Mark Gaffney, Michigan AFL-CIO president.

Clinton’s speech seemed to hit all the right notes with the crowd, which gave her two standing ovations. Gaffney also said workers respond to U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., who plays up his labor roots.

“Don’t count (Obama) out,” Gaffney said of the AFL-CIO’s endorsement. “But he probably doesn’t have as good a chance as other candidates who understand manufacturing better.”