Oh-eight (D): New crush for ObamaGirl?
Posted: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 9:05 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
Democrats
Democrats “brandished their labor credentials and tried to outdo one another with political promises as they competed for the support of two powerful labor unions,” the SEIU (Service Employees International Union) and LIUNA (Labor International Union of North America). The SEIU may make its endorsement in October.
EDWARDS: Promising to be the "best union president in the history of the United States," Edwards received a warm reception yesterday from SEIU members as he took the stage at the end of the day, NBC’s Lauren Appelbaum reports. Edwards signs flooded the ballroom in the Hilton in Washington DC. An "Edwards" chant broke out seven times during Edwards' speech, with union members jumping to their feet and clapping loudly. At other times, cheers and applause drowned out what Edwards was trying to say.
Edwards did have a quieter moment, though. "All of you know about some of the challenges we faced in my family with Elizabeth," he said, recounting the day he and Elizabeth had to reexamine how they were going to live their lives after her cancer returned. "This is the cause of my life," Edwards continued, explaining why he decided to press on for the nomination. "Standing up for the men and women that you fight for everyday is what my life is about."
The AP adds that “Edwards told union activists … that his first act as president would be to introduce a law taking away health care from Congress, the vice president and the Cabinet in July 2009 if universal health care was not passed first.”
Following his SEIU speech, Edwards sat down with NBC's Kevin Corke. On Clinton’s health-care plan, Edwards said: “Her plan substantively is very similar to mine … so I guess I should be flattered that it’s pretty close to a copy of mine. I did this in February a month or a month and a half after I announced my campaign.” More: “Senator Clinton would like to give drug companies and insurance companies and their lobbyists a seat at the table. I believe if you give them a seat at the table, they’ll eat all the food.” And: “We don’t have health care coverage today because of the drug companies, insurance companies and their lobbyists. And if negotiation and compromising with them would work, we would have had universal health care decades ago.”
OBAMA: Barack Obama today will put forward the first of a series of economic proposals that are designed to create a new financial safety net for Americans, NBC/NJ’s Aswini Anburajan notes. In a speech on his tax policy in DC, he will unveil a plan to modernize the tax code, so that it provides tax relief to more Americans, his campaign says.
The AP has the details: “Obama is proposing more than $80 billion in annual tax relief for workers and seniors funded by an increase on wealthier investors. Obama wants to give 150 million working Americans a $500 tax credit, expand relief for homeowners, eliminate income taxes for seniors making less than $50,000 and simplify tax returns so millions of Americans can file in less than five minutes, according to a summary document provided by his campaign.”
Covering his economic speech on Wall Street yesterday, the
New York Times says Obama “chastised Wall Street executives yesterday as failing to protect middle-class interests and called for increased federal oversight of credit rating agencies, including a government investigation. In an appearance at Nasdaq offices in Midtown Manhattan, Mr. Obama, a Democratic presidential candidate, praised America’s free-market impulse but lamented what he characterized as its recent toll on the middle class.”
The Boston Globe adds: “Obama invoked FDR's post-Depression leadership in calling for corporate reform, saying the mortgage lending crisis shows how the deck is stacked against American consumers.”
Obama’s campaign has been plagued by doubts about his inexperience in Washington, but the Chicago Tribune reports that he is backed by a policy team loaded with years of experience and grizzled policy pros. Campaign aides say “he has assembled a personal think tank that easily outsizes any of the established Washington policy institutes that provide intellectual fodder for the political war of ideas,” with 200 experts arranged into 20 subgroups, including former members of the Bill Clinton administration, to advise on foreign policy issues alone. On domestic issues, campaign aides say he has more than 500 policy experts contributing advice.
And it seems that Obama Girl has a new crush, the New York Times notes. “In a new video released today, Obama Girl (played by Amber Lee Ettinger) re-appears dancing and lip-syncing to a new song, ‘I Like a Boy,’ a tribute to members of the United States military.”
