The Lesson Not Learned

Trey Smith

Just weeks after issuing a union-wide endorsement of Occupy Wall Street, the 2.1-million-member Service Employees International Union announced this morning it is also endorsing President Obama for reelection.

In an interview with Salon following a conference call announcing the endorsement, SEIU president Mary Kay Henry stressed the union will not try to enlist occupiers as ground troops for Obama’s reelection — but SEIU also plans to stay involved with the Occupy movement into 2012. SEIU, then under the leadership of Andy Stern, spent millions of dollars helping to elect Obama in 2008.

In the six weeks I’ve been covering the movement in New York, the vast majority of protesters I’ve encountered are fed up with two-party politics; feelings about Obama range from indifference to disappointment to deep resentment. Pro-Obama signs occasionally appear at Zuccotti Park, but they are exceedingly rare. I asked Henry if, given occupiers’ views about Obama, she has trouble reconciling SEIU’s support for Obama and Occupy.

“Not at all,” she said. “I think what Occupy Wall Street has done for us is [to] help define the problem, shine a light on the inequality. I think our obligation as SEIU is to make the case to our members and the broader public about how that problem gets solved.” One of those ways, Henry said, is getting involved in electoral politics by endorsing Obama.
~ from SEIU Balancing Act: Support Both Obama and Occupy by Justin Elliott ~

I am a big supporter of organized labor, but I'm not always enthralled with their leadership people. The big union bosses have a tendency -- just like in the case above -- of wanting their cake and eating it too!

If nothing else, this endorsement simply shows that union leadership is unable to wean itself from the tit of the Democratic Party! No matter how many times the Dems beat unions over the head with a 2 x 4, the union "brain trusts" jump right back up and say, "Hit our members again!"

As Elliot points out, the Occupy movement is not about partisan politics. The vast majority of protesters are equally upset at BOTH mainstream parties. Both have failed and keep failing the 99 percent. President Obama is just as guilty as his Republican counterparts.

So, what does it say about SEIU to support the protests while, at the same time, supporting one of the architects of the issues the people are protesting about?