Obama Co-Opts the Labor Movement

Shamus Cooke @ Truthout - Sadly, labor's complete lack of action to organize their constituents and wider community is directly responsible for much of the Tea Party's success, with big corporate money being the other prop. This dynamic will become more volatile as the jobs depression lurches on; more working people will be lured by anti-immigrant and anti-Islam and anti-union "solutions" to the recession unless an alternative is put forward.

So, what's holding labor back? Predictably, it's the old ball-and-chain Democrats that continues to crush any initiative from organized labor. As long as labor leaders hold the delusional belief that they are a listened to and a respected "partner" of the Democrats - a party controlled by the rich and the big corporations - they will continue to give inflammatory speeches against corporations and Republicans, while attaching themselves to any pathetic jobs program proposed by the president.