Unite Here (National) is endorsing Obama

[Renew Deal]

There was talk that Obama would get the local and not the national. He got the whole thing!
__________________________________________________________________

After suffering a setback in New Hampshire on Tuesday, Senate Barack Obama will get some good news at 11 a.m. today, eastern time, when Unite Here, the union representing 460,000 apparel, laundry, hotel and restaurant workers, announces that it is endorsing him, a union official said.

The union will make the announcement simultaneously at its New York headquarters and in Las Vegas, where its local, Culinary Local 226, representing more than 60,000 casino, hotel and restaurant workers, is by far the largest and most politically potent union in Nevada.

“This is a difficult decision,” Bruce Raynor, the union’s president, said. “There are three pro-labor leading candidates, and it’s extremely difficult to choose between them.”

With its announcement, Unite Here will become the first national union to back Mr. Obama. Its leaders hope to help put him over the top in the Nevada caucuses on Jan. 19 and give him new momentum.
<snip>

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/09/obama-to-get-union-endorsement

[Colobo]

1. Gobama!

[Bullet1987]

23. And here you thought it was all over Katz...no

this is only beginning!!

[Connie_Corleone]

2. Kick

[Rosa Luxemburg]

3. good news for Obama

[ccpup]

4. I'm just waiting for the Posts

that talk about how the heads of the Unions are corporate shills and the rank-and-file Members won't follow them and instead vote for whomever they like. You know, like when Hillary bagged some big endorsements earlier?

tick ... tock ... tick ... tock ...

Oh well. Congrats Obama. :hi:

[Renew Deal]

9. Yup, it took 3 minutes. Look down

How predictable.

[sunonmars]

5. They boxed themselves into a corner

If they went back and gave it to Clinton, then they look opportunistic and stupid. They really had no option after practically doing so yesterday. They are probably thinking they are between a rock and a hard place.

[FrenchieCat]

6. Good! Obama came in 8% ahead in Iowa and 2% behind in NH

and so he is on top of the heap, no matter how the Media is spinning it.

:thumbsup:

[Benhurst]

11. Pluralities are nice; but in the final analysis only majorities count.

None of our candidates is on the top of the heap yet.

[FrenchieCat]

17. MSNBC's own words, "Hillary is back on top of the heap"

not mine.

[Benhurst]

19. Yeah, and yesterday before the votes were counted, NBC had Obama

marching off to his coronation.

NBC would be funny if it weren't the mouthpiece of its Merchant of Death mother company, GE.

[Bullet1987]

25. The MSM needs a frontrunner...

let them annoint Clinton and coronate her again...we've seen the results of Dem coronations recently.

[sunonmars]

14. Hmmm........

He loses a supposed lead of 12 to 15% in one night and loses by 2 when he should have won by 12 and thats a win, i'd hate to see what a loss was. Yesterday, you all had Hillary written off, dead in the water and now this happens, none of us really know what to think.

But one thing I can say for sure, Hilary effectively blew up the speedometer on the Obama juggernaut last night. Obama today is looking like what the feck happened, did anyone get the number of that truck that just hit me. Where did that Iowa bounce go.

I'd be seriously worried about what took place last night, the Clintons just showed how adept they are at taking someone down a peg or two. He was built up to such a level that expectations were high and could not be maintained. I said this yesterday, when you drive too fast, you often get a burst tyre

Obama's strategy according to the pundits is very risky, he's going for the young vote and it just did not materialise last night as in previous elections and with such heavy turnout too. He's just not making inroads with Older voters. Thats a major problem. The independents went with McCain, very ominous as well. They chose experience over "change". Somehow that change word has began to grate on people.

[Dawgs]

20. "12% to 15%"

You lost all credibility when you wrote those numbers.

[Bullet1987]

26. He's not building his entire voting block on the Youth

that would be asinine. It's just a SEGMENT that he wants to appeal to because frankly...he's the only one that can. In NH, Indies disappointed more than anything.

[BigDDem]

7. corporate shills !

[Renew Deal]

8. Is that a joke?

[BigDDem]

10. Yes.

Have a good one!

[Adelante]

28. Heh

:D

[WillParkinson]

12. Weird...

No one asked me. (Local 122, Milwaukee, WI)

[Renew Deal]

13. I remember you.

From 4 years ago. :hi:

[WillParkinson]

16. You do?

Wow. I'm memorable. Sweet. :-)

[Renew Deal]

18. There were a couple of guys with the name Will.

I think you were both Clark supporters. The other one was a really funny guy from CT.

[Adelante]

29. WillyBrandt

He was so clever my face would hurt from smiling :D

[Renew Deal]

32. That guy was really funny.

I haven't seen him since 2004.

[WillParkinson]

34. Tweren't me...

Never supported Clark.

[readmoreoften]

15. UNITE HERE is known as the REPUBLICAN union. They are somewhat scary.

They absolutely destroyed my UAW strike. They are a college campus oriented union and more likely using Obama to recruit new organizers than they are interested in Barack Obama's campaign. We had to spend more time getting UNITE HERE off of our union campaign than we did fighting our bosses. I am 150% pro-union, but UNITE HERE reminded me more of a cult than a union when I was dealing with them.

They also backed John Sweeney (R) in NY who was involved with the Marianas Island slave labor fiasco.

[Dawgs]

21. Nice.

:crazy:

Maybe you need to change that UNION YES avatar to UNION YES(only if they support my candidate).

[readmoreoften]

30. Sorry. You picked the wrong person to fuck with. My union support is unassailable.

When you spend 6 months on a picket line, lose your job over your refusal to cross a picket line, lose your apartment, have to live on strike benefits to survive, and go to jail for organizing rights--all to protect a contract that wouldn't've even benefited you personally-- then you have the right to question my union solidarity. Not one fucking minute sooner.

UNITE HERE happens to be a conservative union that is exceedingly obsessed with creating a cadre of college student organizers at prestigious universities. I think this is a poor strategy and I find their tactics questionable. In choosing Obama they do much for themselves by ingratiating their union with more college students.

Should I refrain from calling the defense workers union that nominated Huckabee conservative as well?

I'm a union activist--and I also live in 'union reality' not 'union fantasyland.' Any union endorsement is good for a candidate and ANY union is better than no union.

[HeraldSquare212]

22. Man, that will sure make New York easier, too,

My understanding is it impacts Nevada, South Carolina and NY.

[Dawgs]

24. Great news for Nevada.

I'm not sure how much it will help, but it should help some.

[Adelante]

31. The Culinary Workers

have the reputation of heavy influence on the caucus. We'll see if it's true, I guess, but this is way better than not having them in Obama's corner.

[Adelante]

27. I think I slept with my fingers crossed for this!

YAY

[flpoljunkie]

33. Terrific endorsement! A great big thanks to Unite Here! They will work hard for Obama.