Labor Day: Obama courts unions, promises to amend NAFTA

By GottaLaff

Attention to unions, to NAFTA, is something we've been waiting for. It's good to see Obama's on top of this:

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is using Labor Day to court union members and reiterate his promises to amend a controversial trade pact and sign a labor-backed bill into law.

An internal Obama campaign memo obtained by The Hill notes that Obama supports amending the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) “so that we can enforce labor and environmental standards.”

The memo adds, “He’ll work together with the leaders of Canada and Mexico — and he’s confident that he can succeed because amending NAFTA is in the interest of workers in all three countries.”

Obama spent part of Monday in Michigan, a union-heavy swing state. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will visit there later this week.

What an elitist! Trying to help union members like that, going out of his way to improve working conditions and raise environmental standards! Who does he think he is?

In its memo, the Obama campaign states that the Illinois senator “has been a lifelong advocate for unions and has earned the endorsement of nearly every union in the country.”

It also notes that Obama is a cosponsor of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act, which is also called the “card check” bill. The measure would allow workers to join a union when a majority of them sign authorization cards. Industry groups are strongly opposed to the bill, which is a top priority for unions. Republicans and business groups say the bill would compromise a worker’s right to cast a private ballot on whether to join a union.

The Obama memo says “as president, [Obama] will sign it into law, because workers who want to unionize should be able to.”

The memo notes that Obama’s top priority this week is responding to Hurricane Gustav, and reiterates Obama’s decision to “ask his volunteer network and small donor base to mobilize on behalf of the Gulf Coast, whether that means sending donations or traveling down to help with recovery once the storm passes.”

Go here to see his e-mail about helping Gulf Coast residents.

Why we support Obama despite our misgivings

By GottaLaff

I start to realize how badly I wish I could articulate my own version of Bob Cesca's words after I read his:

He can't really be in favor of this crapwitted FISA Amendments Bill, can he? Did he really just praise the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives? Greenwald and Olbermann are feuding? Seriously? [...] Really, though, who ever agrees with a politician on everything all the time anyway?

I've said similar things on this very blog, but as you'll see, instead of snark, he has pitch-perfect eloquence. But first, he refers to a Kos diarist:

[A] diarist for Daily Kos reminds us:

Russ Feingold may have been the lone voice standing up to the first Patriot Act, but he voted for the confirmations of John Ashcroft and John Roberts.

Paul Wellstone was a strong liberal voice in the Senate, yet he voted for DOMA and the Patriot Act.

Dennis Kucinich, aside from being on the political fringe, was a lifelong pro-lifer until he decided he wanted to run for president.

Chris Dodd may do quite well on constitutional matters, but he voted for the Iraqi war, the Patriot Act, and is too beholden to the big banks and the hedge funds which he oversees from the Senate Banking Committee.

Bob-Who-Says-Things-Well continues:

You and I could wait a lifetime for a skeleton key presidential nominee to come along who flawlessly interfaces with each of our pet issues, and, consequently, we'd probably die a politically disappointed and overly cynical death. [...] He's [Obama] the liberal who this week, while simultaneously reaching out to evangelical voters, issued an unequivocal statement of opposition against any constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. That's textbook Obama.

Obama's the "we" guy, as in "inclusive".

In the simplest terms possible, choosing to support Senator Obama has never been about issues, but rather, it's always been about, 1) electing a thoughtful, smart president we can reference with pride -- a president who won't flatly embarrass us every damn day, and 2) electing a president who can inspire and negotiate the necessary support he'll need to roll back the darkness of the Bush years. [...]

Despite how we feel about individual issues like FISA or NAFTA, I think most of us with liberal or progressive tendencies can agree that we have a candidate here who is going to succeed on these challenges, while potentially forming a long-range coalition of support that could one day result in a purely progressive netroots candidate. [...]

Senator Obama will help to vindicate our long-suffering, dark ride generation and, thusly, our time in American history [...] If we can keep our attention focused on the big ideas that attracted us to the senator in the first place, he will make us proud.

Bob Cesca's regular daily really awesome blog can be found here. Now, back to the snark.

Shaken faith

By GottaLaff

McCain campaign pulls ads from some anti-Obama web sites

Obama lays out plan for faith-based groups

A new and unpleasant sensation just came over me. I like one of these headlines more than the other, and it's not the one with Obama's name at the beginning.

I've heard commentators say that Obama's take on FISA, and now on faith-based groups, and even NAFTA, have elicited strong reactions from many of us on the left, and that this is what Obama wants. They say that the more liberals protest, the better Obama likes it, because the ultimate result is more support from Independents and some Republicans.

No candidate will share my views on everything, and maybe he will sway some voters, and maybe this is what he feels he has to do to get elected, and but I don't have to like it.