Speaking of Obama’s economic platform...The New York Times Magazine devoted its recent cover story to the subject of Obamanomics and concluded that the Senator is, “both more left-wing and more right-wing than most people realize.” If that doesn’t clear the air, perhaps our panel will.
Here to discuss just what an Obama presidency would mean for working Americans are Tom Woodruff, Director of the Change to Win Strategic Organizing Center and Executive Vice President of the Service Employees International Union and Paul Lopez, a City Councilman who represents district 3 in West Denver. They’re both certain Obama is the best hope we’ve had in decades and that restoring the right to unionize will be at the top of his agenda. That means passing and signing the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would make it easier for workers to form unions and that would impose stiff penalties on employers who intimidate, coerce, or fire workers who are involved in union efforts.
According to Woodruff the answer to many of our current economic woes is restoring and emboldening the right to organize. We need massive change he says. 47 million Americans have no health care, 53 million have no retirement security, and wages continue to fall behind. We’re living through the greatest gap in income inequality, millions of American’s have lost their homes, and free trade has been a disaster for the American worker. There’s no question that without progressive voices pressuring Obama real economic reform will not happen. Lopez and Woodruff both agree that change won’t come from the top down.
That's the message from Denver. From Van Jones who said on Sunday that the pro-democracy movement made Barack Obama to just about every panel we've had on the show. We can’t repeat 1992.





