Change to Win Endorsement

Alyssa Rosenberg is a staff correspondent at Government Executive, one of The Atlantic's sister brands, and she was on the conference call at which the Change to Win labor federation endorsed Barack Obama. She offers the following dispatch:

Anna Burger, the chair of Change to Win, said repeatedly that the federation’s unions felt that Obama was building a significant movement that would persist beyond the elections and help bring important policy changes. “He is building an election coalition that will turn into an action coalition that will restore the American dream,” she said.

The vision of that movement seemed to swamp differences on policy, even on core issues like health care, where Obama has attacked the mandates in Clinton’s proposal. “We believe that Barack Obama is absolutely determined to win health care for every man, woman and child in America. Does he have a different approach? Yes,” Burger said, emphasizing that she thought Obama would be best suited to achieve sweeping health care reform as president.

In fact, Burger seemed reluctant to draw policy distinctions between Obama and Clinton at all, saying that Change to Win appreciated Obama’s stance on the war in Iraq and on trade, but refusing to say whether she thought the federation’s members and leaders associated Clinton with NAFTA and its impacts.

But Burger clearly indicated that Change to Win thought the movement-building stakes were high enough to warrant the federation getting into the race at a point at which they thought they could be a decisive force. Change to Win has 175,000 members in Ohio and expects 110,000 of them to make it to the polls, Burger said. The federation has 60,000 members in Texas, but also has strong ties to the Latino and immigrant communities there.

Burger was blunt about what she hoped the endorsement would achieve. “We think it’s time to bring this nomination process to a close, and we think we can make a difference and get this done,” she said.

Now I'm told independently that Change to Win (unlike the AFL-CIO) doesn't really have any resources as an entity separate from whatever its composite unions bring to the table. Thus, this doesn't necessarily add much that's concrete on top of what the SEIU, UNITE-HERE, Teamsters, and UFCW endorsements already bring Obama. The main point is a PR one, and in that regard the sentiments Burger expressed about a desire to bring the nominating process to an expeditious conclusion seems to be the main point.

Comments

I don't know if Bill Clinton's comments last night could possibly have energized the Hillary operation as much as it energized Obama's, at least here in San Antonio. Twelve days to work our tails off and then this thing can be over and we can start working on November.

Posted by Curtis | February 21, 2008 3:13 PM

Matt - could you change your prediction about a Hillary win to a guarantee of victory for the New York Senator?

Y'know, just to tip the scales a little more in the right direction...?

Posted by Trigger | February 21, 2008 3:22 PM

Well Obama might spawn a movement, but it's not clear that'll be a movement that's good for labor. For one thing, Obama says he wants to "unify the progressive wing and the more centrist wing" on trade. Which means opposing the worst trade deals, like CAFTA, and supporting the ones that are merely terrible, like the Oman and Peru pacts. But hey, he's better than Clinton!

For all the talk about the power of Democratic "special interests" (a phrase Team Obama uses in reference to labor), they've shown themselves to be too tolerant of pols who crap on them.

Posted by David Mizner | February 21, 2008 3:22 PM

I'm a little confused, exactly what "movement" is it that Sen. Obama is building? And toward what ends? Anna Burger says they "believe" that Sen. Obama will get health care for every man woman and child. That is cold comfort for those who are in need of someone willing to put it on the line for those that need it most. I'm not sure Sen. Clinton is "the one", but then again I'm not in the "belief" business and my "soul is not broken".

Posted by Ann L | February 21, 2008 3:29 PM

if Obama wins the delegate count and hill wins the super del's, it will be like running into a brick wall for the Dems

Posted by rawdawgbuffalo | February 21, 2008 5:04 PM

Gerald McEntee to the white courtesy phone...

Posted by Nell | February 21, 2008 5:07 PM

This guy seems pretty sure it'll run beyond OH+TX.

Posted by M | February 21, 2008 5:15 PM

And that's it. This race is officially over, no matter what happens next.

Posted by Bubba | February 21, 2008 7:08 PM

Matt, the significance of the CTW endorsement is the following. Unions can use soft money (i.e., regular dues, rather than separate contributions to union COPE funds) to communicate endorsements to their own members, but not non-members. That means that SEIU can communicate the SEIU endorsement to SEIU members, but not to UFCW or IBT members, and vice versa. The CTW endorsement allows all members of CTW unions to communicate the CTW endorsement to each other, which will make phone banks and especially precinct walks much more efficient.

Posted by Pesto | February 21, 2008 7:44 PM

CTW does in fact have a political operation contrary to Rosenberg's comment. CtW has a multimillion political program funded by a special assessment on its affiliated union members.

Posted by limo | February 22, 2008 8:41 AM

Hillary has too much baggage to make it to the White House. She is power hungry and vengeful and deceitful. Remember her stealing public property from the White House when they vacated it? Remember her manipulations for her good? Remember her buying worthless property and then selling it at exhorbitant prices? Remember her defending a hate-mongering murderer? Hillary is for her self and no one else. Barack Obama is a fresh arrival on the scene and his optimism is what this country needs. Perhaps his desires may not all come about but he does not have the credibility problems which Hillary has.

Posted by Alan Tompkins | February 24, 2008 10:14 AM