Labor Leader McEntee Ruffles Feathers in White House

[RDillon]

Crossposted from Hillbilly Report.

You know, one thing that led to so much disaster in the Bush White House was that Republicans refused to speak out when their leader was wrong. Instead of trying to change some of the mistakes he was making, they rubber-stamped every single wish of that President. That was particularly dangerous to our country when the Republican Party controlled both the Congress and the White House. That attitude caused many of the failed policies that got us into two wars incompetently, and crashed the economy.

Now that Democrats control both parties it seems our Administration expects the same thing from us. In desperation to get a healthcare bill they have compromised too much and failed to take leadership instead deffering to groups such as the Blue Dog Democrats in the House, and Corporate Democrats such as Max Baucus and Kent Conrad in the Senate. Even worse than that, they expect us to just keep our mouths shut even when legislation they are considering could destroy our party for decades.

One leader within our party however, refuses to be silenced and just go along with whatever the White House does. He is getting under their skin by not keeping his mouth shut and playing nice as he sees the White House and Corporate Democrats in both chambers selling the working American down the river. He is not afraid to ruffle feathers, and is getting the White House all in a tissy.

His name is Gerry McEntee and he is the President of the AFSCME labor union. Luckily, he is one Democratic leader who is joining many of us in the grassroots in not being cowered into just accepting any kind of junk reform to give President Obama a "victory" on healthcare.

After all, this man has a union of middle-class workers to represent as his first and foremost job, and he refuses to by bullied by the White House into accepting junk reform:

McEntee led workers in chanting a barnyard epithet to describe Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus’s health care bill, which would levy a new tax on expensive health care plans. He published an op-ed in U.S.A. Today warning, in terms that could be used against Democrats in the midterms, that the plan could tax the middle class and cost workers their health care. And he blew off a plea from White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and published an open letter promising to “oppose” legislation that contained the tax – published over the objections, several labor officials said, of other union presidents whose names appeared on the letter.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28397.html

All of this has drawn the ire of the Obama White House, who had this to say about him:

"We have had just about enough of his gratuitous slaps,” said a senior White House official Friday, calling the politically charged language “outrageous and unacceptable” from an ally — even from one that had, the official noted, devoted substantial resources to health care efforts.

“He’s doing his members a real disservice,” said the official, who said that while all other labor leaders had been careful to keep their opposition to elements of health care proposals modulated and largely inside the tent, McEntee was “beyond the pale.”

So now it is "outrageous and unacceptable" to use your first amendment rights to oppose something that you feel is wrong?? Who is really doing his members a disservice, the White House who in refusing to fight for asking the very rich to help fund healthcare and instead in "compromising" with the Corporate Democrats in the Senate and the Blue Dog Coalition will accept that working America once again must make all the sacrifice?? I submit that it is not Mr. McEntee's fault that this White House is not living up to the soaring rhetoric used during the campaign and is not fighting for working America. Instead of attempting to twist folks like Mr. McEntee's arm, they should be twisting the arms of the Corporate Democrats to support real reforms.

While many labor leaders are uneasy at his tactics, others seem to be very glad that he is standing up and fighting back against a White House that really seems to be falling short in fighting for working America:

“A lot of people have made the political calculus that we don’t want to piss off the White House, so we don’t want to be that overt – but they’re certainly glad that somebody is,” said one prominent labor official. “That’s the great thing about him – you can’t edit the guy – and he likes to do the ‘bull***’ chant whenever he can find an excuse.”

So, here is an idea for this White House. We are not Republicans and instead of expecting us to fall blindly behind you like that party did for Bush, start giving us something to support you on. We do not want junk reforms that amount to yet more Corporate Welfare on the backs of the American worker just so you can have a hollow "victory" that will destroy our party by enforcing a mandate without a vehicle to drive down costs. Instead of joining corporate apolegists that seek to shove this kind of reforms down our throats, join us and Mr. McEntee in seeking real reform that asks for sacrifice from the people who profited most from the booming economy they crashed and were bailed out for crashing.

Only then will we do as you ask and shut the hell up.

[givemebackmycountry]

1. I can't believe how quickly some hammer-head unrec'd this...

Good read - I kicked and rec'd it to even you up.

[patrice]

2. Standing up to power is Essence - tial.

As an outsider in this particular dynamic I have to say I am glad to see this sort of thing AND I hope those involved are fighting back for SHARED goals. Since I do not know the persons involved I do not know whether ostensibly shared goals are or are not a persona, a facade, for a drive to power.

The persons involved also may or may not be aware of which is which either. Power can become a higher and higher objective: as they seek more and more power for __________________, there is some tipping point in there where the critical mass necessary for ______________ change is all that it can be in the current circumstances and bargaining that away in the service of more opportunities for more power, supposedly to accomplish __________________ more perfectly, when, in fact, ________________, at this point given the circumstances, is no longer feasible without the use of (what was at one time) un-necessary force that violates the very nature of ________________________, thus making power a higher objective than ____________________.

It boils down to what exactly _____________________ is, what the factors are in the circumstances as they change, what exactly you're willing to sacrifice, including power, for _________________, and the individual actors' abilities to recognize any of this honestly. Without that recognition, we could have another "Invasion and Occupation of Iraq" on our hands, only this one will be occuring in our nations' hospitals and other care resources, or we will get "____________________" that isn't ______________________.