January 22 Week In Review

Week In Review
January 22, 2013

by Bill Onasch

The Circumstances of All the Pomp

The “public” component of the second inauguration of President Obama dominates the news in this country. Reflecting the watchword of austerity, yesterday’s spectacle was not quite as lavish as the first. There were only two Inaugural Balls instead of ten four years ago. Fewer bus loads from the hinterland were subsidized and only about a quarter of the number of spectators–about a half-million-- braved the elements on the Mall.

But like four years ago, the ceremony closest to a coronation as Americans ever get upstaged a national holiday honoring Dr Martin Luther King Jr. This calendar bonus for the handlers of the nation’s first Black President was helpful in their drive to transform King’s legacy as a great fighter for civil and worker rights in to an icon as dull and lifeless as his unflattering statue, also on the Mall.

I devoted the entire January 19, 2009 Week In Review to examining the struggles that King, along with trade unionists such as A Philip Randolph, and nationalists such as Malcolm X, led that, among other civil rights accomplishments, won voting rights for millions of African-Americans. The President acknowledges that he could never have been elected to the highest position in the land without those battles.

But I also noted then the other struggles--against war, and in support of workers--to which King increasingly devoted attention, are not only unfinished–they are losing ground. You can read that WIR by clicking here.

I have to admit that despite a decades-long accumulation of cynicism, I was shocked by the speed and depth marking the unfolding of the most reactionary administration in living memory on the watch of the first Black President--who owed his victory to indispensable overwhelming support from labor, Latinos, and, of course, African-Americans.

Many movement activists and pundits speculated on what Obama might do in his First Hundred Days–a reference to the mythology of FDR’s first term during the Great Depression. It didn’t take long for him to reveal some clues.

Those who had voted for a Peace President saw him retain Bush’s Secretary of Defense, and reaffirm the Bush negotiated phased draw down in Iraq. At the same time the war in Afghanistan was greatly escalated and expanded in to Pakistan.

He also asked the Republican Fed chairman, who presided over the housing/banking disaster, to stay on and stay the course.

While union officials are not noted for the vows of poverty and tolerance taken by the Dervish they came to give a pretty good imitation of the famed Dervish whirling. The reaction of our labor statespersons to the policies of their new best friend in the White House has been stuck in spin cycle from almost Day One of the first administration.

Remember the promised Employee Free Choice Act that was expected to spur great union organizing drives? Soon after taking office, Obama explained that the whole EFCA couldn’t be passed–even though the Democrats then controlled both houses of Congress. They were told to settle for card-check certification–which they never got either.

Many of us became dizzy from their twisted pronouncements that our “friend “saved the American auto industry. The salvation took the form of an unprecedented intervention of the White House dictating a bankruptcy on behalf of the bosses of GM and Chrysler. That led to the shedding of tens of thousands of good jobs, further take-backs in current union contracts, and imposed a ban on economic strikes during the companies’ return to profitability.

As the Obama administration launched their Race to the Top, attacking the fundamentals of collective bargaining, and expanding privatization of public education, the national leaders of the teacher unions asked only for a place at the “reform” table .

The Latinos, who gave much to Obama and expected some improvements in return quickly saw an administration that would set a new record for deportation of foreign-born workers. ICE consumed more tax-payer dollars in their relentless pursuit of workers without proper papers than all other Federal law enforcement agencies combined. This put a big chill on a massive immigrant rights movement that grew strong during the Bush administration.

And what about African-Americans? Black workers were hit hard in the loss of 100,000 jobs resulting from Obama’s downsizing of GM and Chrysler and the accompanying collateral damage in parts suppliers, dealerships, rail and truck workers. An historically important source of Black “middle class” jobs has been the public sector–which continues to hemorrhage jobs even during “recovery.” A few years ago, a former postal worker wrote a good book, There’s Always Work At the Post Office, African American Postal Workers and the Fight for Jobs, Justice, and Equality. But even that historic economic pillar of the Black community is tumbling with the President’s current destruction of the Post Office as we know it. All of this led to much higher unemployment rates for Blacks–especially among youth–and a drop in net worth of Black families.

I don’t know who authored the well-written second inaugural speech, hailed by the New York Times and others as setting a bold liberal agenda. Whoever they may be, they deserve recognition for chutzpah as well as word smithing.

The man delivering the prepared remarks about defending Social Security just a few weeks ago proposed a cut in monthly benefits. The orator pledging action on climate change scuttled every attempt at meaningful international agreements, ordered his EPA to back off enforcement of “burdensome” regulations, and is expected to give an enormous boost to the tar-sands by approving the Keystone XL pipeline. The speaker who delivered such touching remarks about solidarity with gays and lesbians has repeatedly insisted their rights should be governed by the states. And, in the armed forces, clearly subject to orders of the Commander-in-Chief, same sex couples are still banned from any benefits–or even participation in social events.

The pundits who once speculated about the First Hundred Days now tell us that a lame duck Obama can finally do what he has always wanted. They got that right. But where they go wrong again is accepting the sugar laden malarkey of his speech writers for the President’s true goals.

Like every President before him, those goals center on best practice of government to advance the interests of the class that rules–the bosses, bankers, and brass hats. Ted Kennedy was the first to recognize the potential of an intelligent, nonthreatening Black elected official with liberal credentials to do the dirty work Kennedy’s class wanted done. Oprah helped groom the candidate in to a rock-star like personality. He became well suited to neutralize “left” critics while pursuing policies that, if enacted by a Republican, would have led to upheaval. He did such a good job in the first term he was the choice of the mainstream ruling class to continue, and escalate, his anti-worker agenda. Our side enters the second term as defenseless as in the first.

Four years ago perhaps we could have said shame on Obama. Now the disgrace falls upon those twice suckered.

Vincent Sombratto

I remember vividly President Nixon’s March, 1970 national television announcement that he had “directed the activation of the men of the various military organizations to begin, in New York City, the restoration of essential mail services.”

Everybody knew you couldn’t strike against the government –except for some “outlaw” postal workers in New York/New Jersey fed up with low pay, hard work, and disrespect from management. Despite dire warnings from national leaders, they shut postal service in America’s biggest city down. The strike quickly spread to 671 post offices in 30 cities, involving 200,000 workers.

Unlike Reagan’s response to PATCO–firing and replacing all strikers–Nixon, who had a lot on his plate already with a mass antiwar movement and Black urban revolts, negotiated a settlement. The deal brought immediate and dramatic improvements in wages, benefits, and working conditions. It also created a long term threat by making the Post Office a quasi-independent corporation, subject to Congressional regulation but divorced from Federal funding–coming back to haunt the service today. But all in all, it was seen as a great labor victory, especially for public sector workers.

Vincent Sombratto was the main instigator of the New York wildcat of Letter Carriers and later became president of the national union. He recently passed away at age 89 and you can read a good appreciation of his accomplishments in the New York Times by clicking here.

The Environmental Procrastination Agency

From the AP,

“When a man in a Fort Worth suburb reported his family's drinking water had begun bubbling like champagne, the federal government sounded an alarm: A company may have tainted their wells while drilling for natural gas. At first, the Environmental Protection Agency believed the situation was so serious that it issued a rare emergency order in late 2010 that said at least two homeowners were in immediate danger from a well saturated with flammable methane. More than a year later, the agency rescinded its mandate and refused to explain why.

“Now a confidential report obtained by The Associated Press and interviews with company representatives show that the EPA had scientific evidence against the driller, Range Resources, but changed course after the company threatened not to cooperate with a national study into a common form of drilling called hydraulic fracturing. Regulators set aside an analysis that concluded the drilling could have been to blame for the contamination.... The case isn't the first in which the EPA initially linked a hydraulic fracturing operation to water contamination and then softened its position after the industry protested. A similar dispute unfolded in west-central Wyoming in late 2011, when the EPA released an initial report that showed hydraulic fracturing could have contaminated groundwater. After industry and GOP leaders went on the attack, the agency said it had decided to do more testing. It has yet to announce a final conclusion. ”

That’s all for this week.