What’s The Matter With Massachusetts? AFL-CIO Says A Working Class Revolt

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/12793

Submitted by Doug Cunningham on January 21, 2010 - 4:29pm
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By Doug Cunningham

: “What happened in Massachusetts is that working families did not see the Democrat candidate as being on their side, as fighting for them.”

AFL-CIO Political Director Karen Ackerman, who says the labor federation’s post-election survey showed that this election was a working class revolt. It shows voters believed government recession policies have helped Wall Street but not working families, that Obama and Democrats aren’t being successful enough at making real change for workers. The AFL-CIO says the Massachusetts senate election was not a message to abandon health care reform. AFL-CIO Legislative Director Bill Samuel says Republicans used working class anger successfully this time, but it’s not a national strategy that will hold up for them in November.

: “I think the public will turn against them if this continues to be their game plan – blocking action on health care, on economic issues, on jobs, on restoring workers rights. This is not a strategy that’s going to help them in 2010 if they continue it.”

The AFL-CIO says this is a wake-up call to Democrats that they must join this worker voter revolt and really deliver change workers believe in if they want to win elections.

: “We know that the 2010 elections are gonna be very difficult, that there will be an attack on the economic security of working families in all kinds of ways. We have a big jobs program that we are moving forward and we're looking at candidates elected to embrace that and we're moving forward with a very aggressive political program."

[ShortnFiery]

1. We all know from personal experience, when people are "hurt and angry" ...

they don't all make the most logical decisions.

Answer: Come through for the working class American and they WILL COME TO THE POLLS.

Hell, you won't even have to pay them like the corporations if YOUR MESSAGE is strong and sincere.

How about "Medicare for ALL!"

[T Wolf]

2. I have a problem with finding the illogic that MA voters exhibited. The current administration and

Democrats in Congress are not on the side of people who actually work for a living.

Maybe they were tired of voting for the lesser of two evils.

[BeFree]

3. Not on the workers side?

So they voted for the party that is against them?

Makes no sense.

2008:
1,104,284 McCain
1,891,083 Obama

2010
1,168,107 Brown + 64,000 more than McCain
1,058,682 Coakley - 830,000 less than Obama

The turnout for the conservative went up and the liberal vote declined by 40%.

That is amazing. Never happened before.

If the vote for the conservative went down by a similar percentage, the liberal would have won. But for the first time ever, in an off year election, the vote for the conservative actually increased.

That Brown is something. This trend continues and Jeb Bush will be the next president.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

6. Got a link?

Those numbers tell the WHOLE story, IMHO. Thanks!!

EBM

[Vincardog]

7. The Democratic candidate in Mass supported the Senate bill for HCR.

Evidently the voters of Mass. did not believe that was in their best interests.

[OHdem10]

10. They were sending a Message.to Democrats and Obama.

Activists get their information from lots of source.
These typical voters get their info from TV.

The TV Image is Obama struggling and getting Wall Street
pulled back from the brink.

There has never been a thoughtful incisive explanation
of what was happening. Even the stimulus for the people.
The Democrats never went on TV. Obama did not do a good
enough explanation at that time. The Image left was that
the Administration takes care of Wall Street and ignores
Mainstreet. They permitted the GOP to sell the American
People the idea that the stimulus did not work and was
a terrible thing in the first place.

Permitting the GOP to go unchallenged has been one big mistake.
The Democrats on the Hill are paying more than Obama --
look at the polls.

No one ever reports the fact that Brown himself said he
was able to hang the Louisana Purchase the Kornhusker Kicbab
and the Union Deals around Coakley's neck. That was
when Coakley's numbers began to fall. This hurt the Dems
on the Hill.

[ShortnFiery]

5. Point Taken.

:thumbsup:

[Bitwit1234]

4. So all the good manufacturing jobs that went overseas

for cheap labor, was the democrats idea. So they are responsible for bush and company sending them overseas. I would like for anybody to come forth and within a years time come up with plans, actions, jobs etc to replace those sent overseas by the republicans.

I sure as hell wouldn't vote for a republican whose party was responsible for the fiasco in the first place. I just don't understand MA. I know jobs are very important. But how can the government, who they don't want messing in their lives, or so they say, create manufacturing jobs out of thin air.

I hope they don't expect republicans to do so, after all, how can they forget that the republicans caused them to vanish in the first place.HOW CAN A COUNTRY THAT VOTED FOR AND APPROVED OF THE MESS BUSH WAS MAKING HOLD SOMEONE ELSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT FACT NOW. AND AND AND WANT TO PUT SOME OF THE BUTTS BACK IN OFFICE THAT WERE PARTLY RESPONSIBLE.

[Omaha Steve]

8. Clinton did the trade with China & NAFTA!

Need I say more?

[Vincardog]

9. Thsi was not about BOOOsh it was about the DLC

[whattheidonot]

12. Obama now President.

obama is the president. Once he committed to the Afghanistan war he should have gone all in asking for taxes to pay for it and building an economy around it. You cannot fight wars, have unemployment, and a deficit and not do something about the costs. Somebody has to pay.

[whattheidonot]

11. fascism

Fascism has not been included in this summation. the times are ripe for fascism. Just keep screaming about the terrorist while times are bad. Blame things on the immigrants and scream death panels. Republicans never die. They adapt. Obama's big mistake was that he did not tackle unemployment. he did not see the racism in health-care. (Joe Wilson) Immigrants may not have been covered but they still were going to hospitals so somebody was covering them. Fighting unemployment with a deficit and war efforts going on means government involvement. The government has to run the economy because there is no capital for private business. Obama committed to the Afghanistan war. Now he has to build an economy around that. Someone has to taxed.

[atmame77]

13. Coakley and the Cities all had low turnout

Not really. I live in Mass and I'll tell you what happened. In all the highly Democrat cities the turnout was lower than 37%. Boston being 37% the highest. Coakley thought she was a shoe in and campaigned in the rural western part of the state. Don't ask me why. This happened before King vers. Dukakis primary. Dukalis came back two years later and beat King by a million votes King in the primary King had the same number of votes in both elections. Coakley should have been more serious and worked harder getting out the urban core democratic vote.