Obama's Win in Iowa Shakes Up Labor

This article highlights how remarkable Obama's win in Iowa was -- and how weak organized labor has become.  While I'm happy about this as an Obama supporter, I actually think the decline of unions has been bad for America.

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Obama's Win in Iowa Shakes Up Labor

 

By JESSE J. HOLLAND

The Associated Press
Saturday, January 5, 2008; 12:26 AM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/04/AR2008010403233.html?hpid=sec-politics

WASHINGTON -- Despite racking up almost all of the endorsements from organized labor, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards came in behind Barack Obama _ the only Democratic front-runner with no national union support _ in the Iowa caucuses. That left at least one union looking for a new candidate Friday.

International Association of Fire Fighters President Howard Schaitberger called the support for Obama "breathtaking," after seeing his union's candidate, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., falter in Iowa and drop out of the race. Despite the money and the manpower organized labor shifted to Iowa for Clinton, Edwards and Dodd _ one union ran television ads for Clinton while another shifted workers in-state to stump for Edwards _ Obama still won convincingly.

"The tsunami was far greater than we could attempt to hold off," Schaitberger said.