To all the "I'm much too enlightened for Obama" crowd

[djwilson]

believe me, you are no friend of the working class, even Noam Chomsky thinks so:

CHOMSKY: Well, I would suggest voting against McCain, which means voting for Obama without illusions, because all the elevated rhetoric about change and hope and so on will dissolve into standard centrist Democratic policies if he takes office. However, there is a

Comments

[mckymouseisdead]

Chomsky raises the points. However i still wouldn't call the Democrats "Friends" of the working class.
The "hope" and "change" rhetoric will change and general business as usual politics will continue like he said.

The standard centrist policies, if close to Clinton and his 8 years in office will barely elevate wages and benefits(even though they fell during clinton). Again the trap people get into is that they rely soley on the parties and not on themselves or their own organizations. The Teamsters seem content in meetings i've been too within the union(or at least here in Florida) to simply vote for Obama and thats pretty much it. The EFCA is being pushed but where have the Dems been the past 60 years to get Taft-Hartley off the books? Clinton damned labor for their opposition for NAFTA, and it didn't quite help American labor.

The differences are narrow as he points out. Even if Obama is a radical within his right centrist party, will his own party support his initiatives? Senators like Lieberman won't.

Our last bloc of Democratic rule was under Clinton and the rich did very well, and Chomsky made it a point of tracking the Business Press's giddiness of the 90's economic world that had "dazzling" profits while working conditions worsened and wages stagnated.
Granted Bush was a catastrophe, but i'm skeptical on the Dems ever writing the wrongs.

While the narrow spectrum of improvement will help over time as noted, to rely on the Dems for support is a slippery slope that has never been the best move for labor. If the Labor movement can rebuild itself and push up its numbers, it would be better off flexing its own muscles instead of relying on the politics of the Democrats.
My own vote may go towards Obama, we'll see on that, but i see no "hope" for the working class at the hands of the Democats no matter how much time they have in power.