Some Union Busting

As if Bill Halter's loss in Arkansas weren't enough, an unnamed White House official added insult to injury by chiding labor unions for throwing their money away in their unsuccessful attempt to unseat Blanche Lincoln. The unnamed White House official declared that the unions would have been better off targeting their spending on general elections in November and seemed to laugh at the idea of progressive groups trying to get rid of corporate Democrats.

I have here, right now, the picture of the unnamed White House official who said that.

Yeah, right.

Well, the White House will have to protect his identity. Not surprisingly, this is causing a serious rift between organized labor and other progressive groups and the White House. These groups, labor in particular, worked hard for Obama's election in 2008 and hoped for a new progressive agenda, but when their lofty dreams of turning America into a social democratic state where workers would be respected didn't quite work out, they worked to continue bringing change to America. And they get mocked for it by someone in the White House? It's one thing for Glenn Beck to diss the left, but an unnamed White House official?

President Obama is working to mend fences with unions and other liberal groups, and he'd better do it soon. Not only are the midterm elections less than five months away, his own prospects for re-election in 2012 are in serious trouble if he takes liberals for granted. If liberals lose faith in him, we could be waking up to a new Republican revolution on the morning after Election Day, 2012.

Alarming? Yes, that's the point. If someone doesn't take heed now, we'll all be paying later.

And any money spent on getting rid of corporate Democrats like Blanche Lincoln is money well spent.