Obama's Fundraising Collides With his Rhetoric

[Triana]

Union says senator did little to save jobs

By Bob Secter | Tribune reporter
12:47 PM CST, February 2, 2008

GALESBURG, Ill. - Maytag workers whose jobs were shipped to Mexico serve as consistent characters in Barack Obama's stump speech. He employs their stories in railing against corporations that use trade pacts to replace well-paid union workers with low-cost foreign ones.

It is a ready applause line for the Illinois presidential hopeful, one that he has been reciting almost verbatim since he was a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2004, when appliance giant Maytag was in the process of shutting a refrigerator plant here, putting 1,600 people out of work.

But the union that represented most of those Galesburg workers isn't impressed with Obama's advocacy. It has endorsed his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. Its leaders say they wish he had done more about their members' plight.

more at link.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-galesburg_obama_webfeb01,0,4286527.story

[madrchsod]

1. blaming him is`t going to get their jobs back

and thinking hillary is going to do something is wishful thinking.

when the steel mill i worked at went under the person who helped us the most was our local republican state rep. he made sure we had all the state and federal aid programs for workers who lost their jobs to other countries. he was the go to guy and he delivered.

until the congress has the courage to repeal nafta and other damaging trade policies our industrial base will cease to exist. this year will see tens of thousands of jobs gone while our democratic house and senate cave to the corporations

[Dogmudgeon]

3. but blaming hillary will

NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA NAFTA ...

--p!
Oh, wait, that was Bill.

[Triana]

5. Just like with Excelon....

"Beyond such talk, there is little evidence that Obama went to any lengths to fight the Galesburg shutdown. Some analysts say his ties to the Crowns--Lester's son, James, is the Illinois finance chairman of Obama's presidential run--leave him open to criticism.

Charles Lewis, founder of the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity, said in the era of big money politics there's often a disconnect between the passionate words of a politician and the financial interests of the wealthy benefactors who help bankroll their campaigns."

this is funny - he didn't help them 'cause they didn't SPECIFICALLY ASK him to:

"The Obama campaign said the Maytag workers' union never asked him to intervene with Crown and that he would have done so if they had."

I wonder if he ASKED THEM if he could use their plight as a campaign tool? Probably not. Funny Obama was aware enough of this situation to USE it to his advantage in a campaign - but NOT enough to DO ANYTHING to help those people when they needed it.

Doesn't add up, does it? Or maybe it DOE$

He got LOTS of money from them...

"Crown family members are major Democratic Party donors. Some have given to Clinton's campaigns for the U.S. Senate in New York. But in the presidential run, their money is behind Obama, campaign records show. The Crowns and employees of their family-run holding company have given at least $195,000 to Obama's U.S. Senate and presidential campaigns."

So that likely explains a lot.

I'm not saying he's WORSE than Hillary. But he damn sure isn't any better. Ya'll better take your blinders off. And getting you to DO so is the point of this post. The point is not and cannot be "to get their jobs back". Nice distraction tactic though.

[awaysidetraveler]

2. Hillary lobbyist money is the only reason she has a campaign at all. Not so with Obama's grassroots

movement. If you're going to advocate Hillary over Obama based on lobbyist money, then you'll need more to back it up
than the Chicago Tribune.

www.opensecrets.org tells all the details of all the lobbyist money,
and it paints a terrifying picture of the lobbyists that Hillary takes money from.

Edwards was better, I'll admit. Still, Edwards is out.

Obama is now the best choice for rooting out corruption and lobbyist money from Washington.

[Dogmudgeon]

4. Terrifying?

A little dramatic, wouldn't you say?

There is little difference in the drama level at OpenSecrets between Obama and Clinton.

You are saying and doing anything to win.

No, wait, only Hillary does that. You are totally committed to the victory of Hope.

Got it!

--p!

[Triana]

6. Who needs lobbyist money?

Funny Obama was aware enough of this Maytag situation to USE it to his advantage in a campaign - but NOT enough to DO ANYTHING to help those people when they needed it.

Doesn't add up, does it? Or maybe it DOES.

He got LOTS of money from them...(of course they're NOT LOBBYISTS but is the rhetoric Obama spouts in regards to this any LESS disingenuous than someone who does take lobbyist money - considering these facts? I don't think so)

"Crown family members are major Democratic Party donors. Some have given to Clinton's campaigns for the U.S. Senate in New York. But in the presidential run, their money is behind Obama, campaign records show. The Crowns and employees of their family-run holding company have given at least $195,000 to Obama's U.S. Senate and presidential campaigns."

So that likely explains a lot.

[joshcryer]

7. Wow, that's the worst thing I've read today.

What an unfortunate scenario here.

[in_cog_ni_to]

11. Funny how you didn't mention Obama's $227,000 he's taken from the VILE Exelon Nuclear CORPORATION:

When residents in Illinois voiced outrage two years ago upon learning that the Exelon Corporation had not disclosed radioactive leaks at one of its nuclear plants, the state’s freshman senator, Barack Obama, took up their cause.
<snip>
He has boasted of it on the campaign trail, telling a crowd in Iowa in December that it was “the only nuclear legislation that I’ve passed.”
<snip>
The campaign did not directly address the question of why Mr. Obama had told Iowa voters that the legislation had passed.

Since 2003, executives and employees of Exelon, which is based in Illinois, have contributed at least $227,000 to Mr. Obama’s campaigns for the United States Senate and for president.

Two top Exelon officials, Frank M. Clark, executive vice president, and John W. Rogers Jr., a director, are among his largest fund-raisers.

John W. Rowe, chairman of Exelon and also of the Nuclear Energy Institute, a lobbying group, has been an Obama donor.

Mr. Obama’s chief political strategist, David Axelrod, has worked as a consultant to Exelon.


U.S. / POLITICS | February 3, 2008
Nuclear Leaks and Response Tested Obama in Senate
By MIKE McINTIRE
An Illinois controversy pitting two important constituencies against each other put Barack Obama’s legislative skills to the test.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/us/politics/03exelon....

[Thrill]

8. Hillary is the Corporate Candidate

Clinton took in $823,087 from registered lobbyists and members of their firms in 2007 and the second-biggest recipient was McCain, who took in $416,321, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based group which tracks political giving. Barack Obama, Clinton's rival for the Democratic nomination, doesn't take money from registered lobbyists, although he received $86,282 from employees of firms that lobby, according to the center.

McCain has 26 registered lobbyists as campaign advisers or fundraisers compared with 11 for Clinton and none for Obama, according to review of records compiled by Public Citizen, a Washington-based group that favors stronger disclosure laws for lobbyists.

[Triana]

9. Maytag is a corporation (n/t)

[in_cog_ni_to]

10. That sounds about right. He talks a lot and says nothing. n/t

[Triana]

12. Don't miss this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=4405052