Liberals to Dems: It's about jobs
Liberal activists who rallied in Washington Saturday seemed as concerned about bridging the divide between Democrats and disillusioned progressives as they were about promoting civil rights and other social issues.
The “One Nation Coming Together” rally at the National Mall touched on themes of immigration reform, more funding for schools and equal rights for gays.
But more than anything else, the day was about jobs – an issue President Barack Obama and other Democrats admittedly have stumbled over in the past year but will need to seize in coming weeks if they hope to fend off big Republican gains in Congress on Nov. 2.
“This is a march for jobs,” said Benjamin Jealous, president of the NAACP and a lead organizer of the rally, which attracted thousands of liberal activists to the National Mall.
With the national unemployment rate still hovering at 9.6 percent and millions of Americans out of work, the economy has become the No. 1 issue facing voters. And polls show Republicans with the advantage on that issue — a key focus of the tea party movement that has energized the GOP this election cycle.
Despite efforts by the Obama administration and the Democrat-led Congress to jump-start the economy – and proclamations by experts the recession is over – Americans are still feeling jittery about the nation’s fiscal health. Many on both left and right feel the administration has been distracted by lesser issues and has failed to focus on restoring jobs.
That anxiety was palpable among many attending Saturday’s rally.
Ala Obey, 23, who is studying social work at West Virginia’s Concord University, came to Washington for the first time Saturday to seek reassurance she’ll find work when she graduates.
“It is definitely terrifying when you spend all this money to go to school and are thousands of dollars in debt,” she said. “It’s scary to think when I get done, I might not have a job.”
The jobs theme also was underscored by the thousands of union members – easily identified by their bright-colored matching T-shirts – that were bused to the four-hour event from as far as Michigan, Ohio and New York. The American Federation of Teachers said they had representatives from all 50 states.
Labor leaders sought to tie the insurgent tea party movement with the Wall Street bankers and investors who Democrats have blamed for the nation’s economic woes.
“Behind the voices of fear and hatred that have risen to dominate out national conversation are the forces of greed, the moneyed powers that put us in the economic mess we’re in today. And we’ve got a lot of work to do to repair the damage that greed did to our country,” Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, said while standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
“We come together today because America needs jobs, good jobs, jobs that support families—all families,” he added. “Jobs that give our young people paths of opportunity, not obstacles. Jobs that allow people to retire with dignity.”
In his weekly radio address, Obama highlighted his administration’s commitment to clean energy technology, including solar and wind power. He said it would translate in to hundreds of thousands of new jobs by 2012, when he faces re-election.
"There is perhaps no industry with more potential to create jobs now — and growth in the coming years — than clean energy," said Obama, who did not attend the rally.
Also among the speakers at the rally was Van Jones, a Center for American Progress fellow who resigned as Obama's "green jobs" adviser over controversial past statements he had made about the Sept. 11 attacks and Republicans.
“We have an environment in crisis and an economy in crisis,” warned Jones. “The earth is overheating, temperatures are going up and employment is going down.”
Tea partiers and Republicans are furious at Obama for leading the country down a path of more government spending and regulation — namely in the form of the economic stimulus plan, healthcare law and Wall Street reform. The midterm elections are seen by many as a referendum on the president, who the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other critics deride as “anti-business.”
But many liberals are also upset that the administration is not fighting as hard as they think it should for the goals they share, from comprehensive immigration reform and universal healthcare to a repeal of the ban on gays openly serving in the military.
“They are a little too weak,” said Mai Abdul Rahman, 49, a doctoral student at Howard University who was holding a sign reading “Lift the Blockade” on Gaza. “We have the majority but we have not been able to exercise the majority. We don’t have a clear vision.”
Some, however, say Obama is doing the best he can.
“He can’t do it by himself. He’s not getting the support,” said Evette Glen, 53, a janitor at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia who is “100 percent” behind Obama. “Republicans are just determined to block him. They just want to see him fail. He is doing the best he can.”
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), the only elected official to speak at the rally, told POLITICO the Saturday march marked an opportunity to showcase Democrats’ efforts to end the recession and create jobs.
“As Democrats, we do such a miserable job (at getting our message out). We reduce taxes and yet we get pigeon-holed to reduce taxes. Wait, a minute, we did reduce taxes,” Gutierrez said. Democrats’ decision to back the $700 billion bank bailout – nearly all of which has been repaid – stopped the economy from spiraling downward toward 15 percent or 20 percent unemployment, he said.
“I think we need to stress what we do,” he added. “We’ve always been about jobs, and we didn’t do a good enough job stressing it.”
Sharon Carraux, a Defense Department employee from Chester, Va., said she has several close family members who are unemployed. But she said was energized about the rally’s promotion of green jobs.
“If you have people idle with nothing to do, they have no other recourse than to look at illegal avenues,” she said. “The message is a little late but it’s getting out.”
POLITICO
No comments:
Post a Comment