Divorced from the realities facing workers.

[eridani]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leo-hindery-jr/not-loyal-opposition-with_b_518264.html


Let's just say that as the dinner progressed, the mood very quickly shifted from sweet to salty, and by the time we got to dessert it had become downright bitter and sour. Readily and unanimously, these leaders described their disenchantment with the administration's larger jobs policies and how divorced the administration seemed to be from the realities facing workers. And what started all of us off in this direction was when, just as we sat down, one of the Labor leaders shared some numbers from a just-completed poll of his rank-and-file members:

• On representing the interests of working and middle class Americans, President Obama drew approval from only 28% of respondents.

• On having a strong, aggressive jobs program to get people back to work, only 17% rated the President and his administration "excellent or good".

• 64% felt neither party was pushing a strong jobs program to get people back to work.

• Only 40% agreed with the statement that last year's stimulus package had "created or saved millions of jobs", and by a margin of 89% to 10% they outright rejected the notion that the Recession is over, as the administration continues to contend.

This litany of concerns is sadly too familiar to too many American workers and it arises from the facts that: (1) last year's stimulus package, when all is said and done, will have "created or saved" -- mostly just 'saved', whatever that means -- at most 2.5 million jobs, when simply from today forward we still need to create 22 million new jobs in order to be at or near real full employment; (2) formal pronouncements keep coming from the very top of the administration that "the Recession is over" even though fully 30 million Americans are effectively unemployed; (3) Congress just enacted a watered-down $17.5 billion jobs bill when what we still need is an all-of-government industrial policy with hundreds of billions invested over time in infrastructure, a National Infrastructure and Production Base Bank to complement these investments, and jobs programs for the millions of out-of-school unemployed youth; and (4) there has been no action whatsoever on the Employee Free Choice Act (or EFCA), a precise promise made on the campaign trail in 2008 that the White House has now let become a 'dirty phrase' in Washington.

[Jkid]

1. K and R

[Coyote_Bandit]

2. Seems to me

that the asshats in office don't give a flip about workers. Until they need their votes. At which time they will shovel whatever shit is necessary. I'm not buying their BS anymore. Sorry bastards need to be retired and sent home. Or maybe exiled.

[Newest Reality]

3. It might even be that, in the new reality,

they don't want or need the votes as much a we are led to believe. One term in office and their are lots of paybacks and opportunities for speaking, board positions, etc., that pay a heck of a lot more than "public service" does.

As far as the Democratic base goes, what's the alternative, anyway? If your incumbents have other priorities and interests to serve than those of The People, who do you get to chose from? More of the same in the primaries? The Neo-Republicans? I mean, the Democratic incumbents can say "Nya, nya!" to that.

I don't think I am the only one who is seeing a huge divide and a large disconnect that appears to not be accidental. It may very well be that large sectors of people are being subtly, (media subtle) abandoned as economic collateral damage. If that were true, it would never be mainstream news, anyway. Instead, it all appears to be a little here, a little more there, etc., when if fact it is a deep, sweeping wave of collapse for growing numbers of people, (and communities) who are not on the jackpot side of what's going on.

I base that on an overall picture garnered from everything I have read and come across, though there are dozens of particulars. Call it a synthesis that yields a strong, intuitive sense of it.

[NNN0LHI]

4. President Obama gave a great opportunity for Americans to help American workers

He gave them a Cash For Clunkers program and most went out and bought imported cars.

Can't legislate stupidity away.

Don

[Donnachaidh]

5. kind of hard to trade in a car when you're UNEMPLOYED -- FAIL

no, I take that back -- EPIC fail.

:eyes:

[Greyhound]

6. A "Democratic" administration governing like Republicans in an effort to appear "bi-partisan", yet

garnering no support from the republiks, so we end up with reich-wing results that the Republicon Party will label Democratic.

Anybody else have a problem with this?

[KG]

7. this admin fucked up - jobs should have been the first priority, not HIR.

[scarletwoman]

11. +10000!

Financial reform and jobs, first! Health care was their pet issue, but it wasn't the most relevant by a long shot.

[amborin]

8. K&R

[leftstreet]

9. K&R

[SoCalDem]

10. Without demand, there will be NO recovery.

People who are scared of losing their jobs or people who have already lost theirs will not buy much.. or anything they don't desperately need..

Demand drives our economy.. No demand, no need for more (or much) of anything..