Trumka's Terrible Two-ish Tiff

by JASmius

Evidently, Red Barry is just too doggoned right-wing for Big Labor:

In a huge public blow to the electoral fortunes of both President Obama and the Democratic Party, the president of the AFL-CIO said Thursday that organized labor is preparing to ditch Democrats and go it alone in building up its own grassroots structure.

Specifically, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told reporters that the nation’s largest labor federation will scale back their involvement with the Democratic Party in advance of the 2012 elections.

In 2008, unions spent over $400 million for Obama's election. Asked if the AFL’s move is a huge blow to Obama, Democratic pollster Doug Schoen told Newsmax.TV: “Absolutely. Obama needs to get labor back and I think he’ll be courting them furiously in the weeks and months to come."

Actually, THAT is what would be the "huge public blow" to Donk electoral fortunes. A hard left extremist party and its Jimmy Carteresque capo that desperately needs to tack right and follow in Bill Clinton's tactical footsteps to avoid electoral eradication next year can ill-afford to "court" the faction that is trying to drag them even further away from the American mainstream. If there are any savvy tacticians in the Obama political shop who aren't blind ideologues, they'll recognize Trumka's angry bluster for the bluff it is. After all, where is Big Labor going to go? How are they going to do any better than King Putt? No other alternative [coughcoughHILLARYcoughcough] is going to jump in on the Dem side unless and until The One pulls an LBJ and declines to run for re-election. Anybody see Cap'n Awesome's ego allowing him to hit the links early?

Nope, the union bosses are stuck with their messiah, no matter how clay his feet become. And the best part is, as the old saying goes, imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery:

While Trumka had nothing but scathing words for the tea party movement, he laid out a scenario that very much mirrored the tea party’s grassroots structure and its clout in the GOP. The vision is for big labor to wield the clout that it once had inside the Democratic Party and on the liberal end of the spectrum in American politics.

"The clout it once had"? Gee, I haven't noticed any diminution of Big Labor clout in the Democrat Party; after all, look how many seats it cost them in the 2010 midterms. If that isn't clout, I don't know what is.

I guess that "clout" would be of a piece with the logic of deliberately setting out to organize a grassroots populist movement from the top down. Trickle-down Trumka-ism, as it were.

And its intended focus?

“As we approach this Labor Day, our working-class people are looking for three things: jobs, jobs, jobs,” Trumka said.

Which cannot be created without freeing business, business, business to expand, expand, expand and generate greater profits, profits, profits by cutting taxes, taxes, taxes and deregulating, deregulating, deregulating.

Maybe he'll borrow one of Barry's used wands. That'll tide over his demagoguery reflex until he comes crawling back to beg forgiveness from his lord and savior as the specter of President Perry becomes to terrifying for him to bear.

[cross posted at Hard Starboard]