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The Message of Massachusetts: Jobs
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| Leo W. Gerard |
Bill Clinton saw it clearly when he was running for president against Bush I. It became his mantra: “It’s the economy, stupid.”
Clinton wanted to reform health insurance, too. But he understood that during a recession, the first priority is jobs.
Politicians and commentators continue to blather obtusely about the meaning of Senate candidate Martha Coakley’s loss in Massachusetts to a Republican in a heavily Democratic state. Like Coakley and her advisers, they have failed to see the obvious, failed to learn from Clinton’s victory:
It’s the economy, stupid.
Poll results show that Massachusetts voters punished Coakley—and Democrats—for neglecting the issue most vital to them: jobs. If politicians had studied earlier polls or attempted to actually get in touch with mainstream, Main Street Americans—or just listened to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka’s address at the National Press Club on Jan. 11—they’d have known to focus on jobs. The message of Massachusetts should be clear: If Democrats want to save their own jobs in the midterm elections this fall, they must create jobs now.
A poll taken in the first week in December exposed voters’ anger over the economy. The bipartisan Battleground Poll showed this: A huge majority of those surveyed ranked improving the economy and jobs as the most important tasks for Congress. It was 40 percent, compared to healthcare reform, at just 15 percent.
Here’s what pollster Celinda Lake said about the results:
The number one thing Democrats have to do is prove they really have a jobs program and an economic program that is going to sell on Main Street.
That was a month before the Massachusetts vote. In the meantime, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced unemployment numbers for December—and they were worse in 43 states than they had been in November. Joblessness in Michigan, a high-population Heartland State, was the highest in the country at 14.6 percent. In Rhode Island, it was 12.9 percent; in South Carolina, 12.6 percent. In California, one of the dozen largest economies in the world, it was 12.4 percent, significantly higher than the U.S. average of 10 percent.
People are hurting. Pay attention, politicians. Pay attention.
They didn’t. In the Massachusetts race, they were talking about terrorism and baseball.
In a Research 2000 poll done for MoveOn.org, 95 percent of Massachusetts residents surveyed ranked the economy as either important or very important to their candidate choice. Research 2000 questioned 1,000 registered voters—half of whom voted for Republican Scott Brown and half of whom did not vote at all.
Among those who voted for Obama in 2008 but Brown this month, 51 percent said they believed Democratic policies helped Wall Street more than Main Street.
It’s the economy, stupid. The Main Street economy.
Similary, in a Hart Research Associates poll conducted on election night in Massachusetts, 79 percent of voters said electing a candidate who would strengthen the economy and create more good jobs was the single most important factor in their decision. The were looking for someone who would fix the economy.
The Great Recession of Bush II is more than two years old now. Workers are frightened and angry. They see bailouts for Wall Street, big bonuses for bankers and unemployment continuing to rise.
They will vent their frustration on politicians. Massachusetts showed it. Trumka warned about it earlier this month in his talk at the Press Club:
At this moment, the voices of America’s working women and men must be heard in Washington—not the voices of bankers and speculators for whom it always seems to be the best of times, but the voices of those for whom the New Year brings pink slips and givebacks, hollowed-out health care, foreclosures and pension freezes—the roll call of an economy that long ago stopped working for most of us.
He went on: “Working people want an American economy that works for them, that creates good jobs, where wealth is fairly shared.”
Trumka recommended immediate implementation of the AFL-CIO’s five-point jobs program, a plan that would produce 4 million jobs and includes dramatically increasing investments in federal infrastructure and green jobs and direct lending of the refunded bank bailout money to small and medium-sized businesses that can’t get credit because of the financial crisis.
Just as important is implementation of the recommendations in the report issued by the White House manufacturing task force in December, Framework for Revitalizing American Manufacturing. That report contains concrete measures to revive manufacturing in the United States to generate real wealth, not the illusory paper assets counterfeited on Wall Street.
Trumka called for immediate action, not going slow, not taking half steps. Those who seek delay are “harming millions of unemployed Americans and their families,” he said, and jeopardizing economic recovery.
He ended with this warning:
The reality is that when unemployment is 10 percent and rising, working people will not stand for tokenism. We will not vote for politicians who think they can push a few crumbs our way and then continue the failed economic policies of the last 30 years.
Workers executed that warning in Massachusetts.
What Americans want is jobs.
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17 Comments
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I am just wondering how they expect to create job? Even Walmart is laying off..
Nothing like Single Payer to re-invigorate our economy, create jobs and transfer bloated employer health care premiums into REAL wages for workers.
Why won’t we demand that they “start over from scratch”?
Yeah, it’s the economy, unless you’re in big business’s pocket.
Look, we have 7-8 million American jobs being done by illegal aliens. These are jobs that Americans WILL do for a fair wage, but why pay that when you can hire illegals… The government refuses to enforce our laws and the unions call for legalization.
We allow corporations (i.e. fake people…) to outsource everything that isn’t bolted down. They get tax breaks and we lose jobs. Free trade fundamentalism is killing us!
Our wonderful government brings in 125,000 legal immigrants a month to compete with American workers. H1B visas have ruined a lot of careers. Immigration in good times is fine, but these aren’t good times.
So if you think your government or your union is looking out for you, you are smoking some pretty good stuff.
Do you care about this? Have a look at NumbersUSA.com.
Every election we see a successful bipartisan effort to get nothing but Democrats and Republicans elected – the only parties that the superrich are at this point willing to trust to represent their interests consistently and exclusively. Any real jobs program must either be funded by increased public debt, or that horror of horrors, taxing the superrich, who somehow have wound up with all the money. Fake ‘populists’ have made it harder to further increase the national debt, leaving a choice for Obama & co to either come up with a sham window dressing underfunded mush masquerading as a jobs program, or do the unthinkable in America – actually taxing the rich. Don’t expect much, because they like being on the gravy train as much as their esteemed colleagues on “the other side of the aisle”. Sadly, the aisle is about the only thing separating these two capitalist parties. We must build what we should have gained in the 30s but never did, and independent party of Labor
Employment is and always will be the most important concern of the people. Unemployment is a symptom of a dying economy. One wonders why Washington has been so focused on health care reform that unemployment is not the first priority. Could it be that addressing the issue might show that we can’t be promised the return of jobs that are gone because of a change in the world economy? Legislators need to realize that no health care is affordable for those who are unemployed. Foreclosures will continue when people are unemployed and can’t pay their mortgages. The unemployed generate no tax revenue while increasing the burden on government services. Politicians who ignore unemployment should be given the opportunity to experience it for themselves. Let’s all work together in a non-partisan spirit to vote the bums out!
well it’s about time the afl-cio started voicing their opinion about job creation…what took so long….and why wasn’t my posts allowed on this very subject 6-8 months ago when i was blogging here? while the afl-cio had their heads buried in health care reform which they should have seen as a break from dems and a bondoogle for working class the jobs kept declining….so where does gerard come off saying STUPID…look where our steel industry is today…when will an active campaign to bring the voices of the union members come together…and i don’t mean to have any more of this backroom politicing done . this is America we should be for all… backdoor politicing will kill any faith in unions…so lets get it done afl-cio it’s been why to long waiting for you to step up WE NEED JOBS!
The first thing that’s going to have to happen to ‘create’ jobs for deserving Americans is to get rid of the illegals. Make E-Verify mandatory and retroactive for EVERY employer in the country. No exceptions! Then require employers to run their current employees names through the system and if they’re illegal they’re fired! Next the H1-B visa workers need to go. And if the companies employing the H1-B workers don’t want to pay American workers ‘American’ wages they can go as well! I don’t see any ‘new’ jobs being created. Unless, of course, they’re government jobs. Like we need more of those!
Clinton was elected because former President Bush (SR.) neglected the needs of the American Public. President Obama was elected because the former President George Bush (JR.) ignored the needs of the working families, sending jobs overseas causing a recession. I believe President Obama and Congress is getting the message
As far as the Mass Senate election goes, I’m glad it went the way that it did. That election was not about Brown or Coakley or what they represented, it wasn’t about health care or jobs or any other singular issue, rather I believe it was about Democrats, the majority party, acting like a bunch of “childish pussies.” Now, if Obama and the Dems don’t grow a pair soon, and they continue to do biz as usual in DC, they’ll be toast in November to candidates from a political party that perished in 2008. Then I will move to Mexico. So there you have it!
“Then I will move to Mexico.” I did that very thing getting disgusted with Washington. I found it was worse in Mexico. My home was burglarized three times so we moved to another part of the city. Then I had a garage storage broken into by the neighbors stealing all my building tools. I went to the police, waiting in line with other victims who would go shopping, then come home and find their home had been broken into and completely empty. The police did nothing so back to the States I went.
The democrats and republicans, through a bipartisan effort, have created the smoothest-running absolute dictatorship of the rich in the history of the world. It is a seamless system which puts top priority on brainwashing the masses, through total media monopoly, to become convinced that this is a “democracy” that is “the envy of the world”. Meanwhile, “Illegalsgohome” has a unique job plan – fire all the “illegals”. It seems that the best way to create jobs is to fire people. Sam’s Club is now laying off 11,000 full time jobs, creating thousands of part time jobs with no benefits – maybe “illegalsgo home” can latch onto one of those great jobs. Emmiigration is the workers last resort — coloneblogger, please save me a spot in Mexico, or whatever — someplace where there also are no jobs, but at least the basics are more affordable, or at least a place where the Labor Movement is into fighting and not just whining. Requesting of the Democrats develop some backbone? Personally, I would prefer it if my rapist has as little backbone as possible.
At this point, it seems that the country and the world would have been a lot better off if the illegals that were sent home would have been the Pilgrims.
I fear the lesson in Mass is not the economy: It is that if one runs a poor campaign; one loses: pure and simple.
Republican got out his base and independants by good old fashion work while opponent pretty much assumed she would win. Big error and in the middle of an election is not the time to vacation.
Errors by allowing the GOP to last minute blitz the media market and not respond. We could go on and on.
Many a good dem stayed home and that lesson should not be lost. However, the race was lost by only a hundred thousand votes and far closer than “pundits” would have folks believe.
One other reason: healthcare reform disgust. Dems themselves by lack of real progress on healthcare reforms turned off many a voter. Many single-payer folks in Mass and it looks that many stayed home.
That may be repeated in several states in November by the way.
update: one poll said that almost 50% of union households voted for the GOP canidate despite effort by AFL to promote the dem in Mass.
That tells me that union turnout was not heavy for the norm voting for GOP is about 40%.
Unless something changes, this might well be the pattern for the 2010 midterms and that would not be in labor’s best interests.
If our folks stay home, dems will lose many a race; pure and simple. Let’ face it, dems have not done the best of jobs since taking over house/senate/white house.
Lord help Obama if he turns to the right in his upcoming State of the Union address.
OK Mass. Messaged recieved loud and clear. Don’t hold you breath waiting for the republicans to vote for your next multibillion dollar infrastructure project. Yall gots too miny unions!
When the pundits exclaim this is a message to all the USA, come on!! 100,000 votes is the message sent by the USA. Bad candidate, thinks the seat is a given, bad campaigning cost the Democrats this seat.
Health care is not dead but our majority is weakened. Put the bill on the floor and make the damn republicans vote against it and then kick their as*&&^% this fall.
I am more worried about the supreme court decision legalizing the coroporate heads to buy every office in the USA.
We need to quit being whores to the democrat party and especially the Damn Blue Dogs who can take much credit for no reform in health care.
this message is also for union leaders that make deals behind closed doors with obama
Brothers and Sisters: Somewhere along the way the notion that one of
the
benefits of Capitalism was that it would create jobs, has gotten lost.
When
the government creates jobs to shore up the economy, that is
Socialism. (Over simplified). When the government and business get
together and pass laws locking in markets to the capitalists, is
Fascism.
Sixteen million labor pool. Heaven to a Capitalist.
Pain and suffering to the workers. In the evolution of labor under
Capitalism, organized labor may have to slow representation of workers,
to
organizing the unemployed. Please consider this, and other
alternatives
than what are now on the table now.
Respectfully
Thomas Harkins