“…progressives have groused that some blue-collar unions are willing to sell their souls for a few thousand jobs.” The above NYTimes quote is by three reporters tracking down why Trump is making inroads with many labor union leaders. The ‘progressives’ the reporters talked to are a big reason why the Dems lost so big. Tone deafness and class blindness. To environmentalists and their liberal allies “a few thousand jobs” is a mere whiffle if climate change can be protected in the name of the planet. “A few thousand jobs” is for many families the difference between food stamps and mortgage default and keeping their heads above water. The class thing is so blatant. For “us”, which includes Clinton’s former labor secy Robert Reich, the “few” jobs are a tiny spike on a statistical chart. For the rest of us they’re a catastrophe. Where is the human feeling in all this? It used to be called solidarity. That's so yesterday. We lost the 2016 election the moment Pres. Obama refused to show up in Madison, Wisconsin for the huge rally by cops, teachers, public workers and students protesting Gov. Scott Walker’s successful bid to destroy collective bargaining. Everything followed from such “even handedness”, essentially not giving a damn for what matters to workers. Bernie Sanders knew, and knows; yet from Obama top down a moral deafness except to urban-identity complaints. Trump and his Steve Bannon brain are very shrewd to capitalize on his victory by inviting key labor leaders to the Oval Office, which was almost never done in the lofty Obama years. Don’t call these unionists sellouts; their naked mission is to protect jobs. For the moment put aside the media-driven frenzy, a sort of gang bang static, about Gen. Flynn, Russian hackers, conflicts of interest, Ivanka's rags and Trump’s wild man bluster. Nuts but not a fool, he’s systematically picking apart the once deep coalition of Democratic party and its first line of defense, unions. Given the voting split beween pro Clinton labor leaders and ordinary members, at this moment the unions are easy pickings. If we lose the unions, we lose our heart. |
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