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Teamsters Defy 11th-Hour Clinton Pitch
February 20, 2008 7:29 PM
ABC News' Sunlen Miller and Teddy Davis Report: The Teamsters' decision to back Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., on Wednesday came one week after former President Bill Clinton personally asked the union's president to back his wife's presidential bid.
Bill Clinton spoke with Teamsters President James Hoffa on Feb. 13 when the two men attended the same event in Washington, D.C.
On that day, Hoffa was awarded the Israel Legacy Award by the Yitzhak Rabin Center. Clinton was the event's keynote speaker.
"He wanted us obviously to back Hillary but we didn't have the poll at the time," said Hoffa, referring to his conversation with the former president.
Once the Teamsters finished polling its own members over the weekend, it showed, according to Hoffa, that Obama had more support than Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.
It also showed Obama doing better against Arizona Sen. John McCain, the Republican Party's presumptive nominee.
The Teamsters are not releasing details of the poll.
One key issue that soured the Teamsters on both Clintons is trade.
While Sen. Clinton called for renegotiating NAFTA on Feb. 15th, the Teamsters blame former President Bill Clinton for pushing the trade deal.
"We’ve lost two million jobs because of NAFTA trade agreements," said Hoffa. "Bill Clinton was for it, and we oppose NAFTA."
Hoffa heralded Obama on Wednesday for wanting to renegotiate NAFTA.
"The first thing he is going to do," added Hoffa, "is contact the president of Mexico and the Prime Minister of Canada, and say let’s start renegotiating this trade agreement. I think that’s innovative thinking, that’s the kind of thinking we need."
Hoffa also praised Obama for wanting to take away tax breaks for companies that move jobs out of the U.S., a position he shares with Clinton.
In the past, the Teamsters have deviated from most Democrats and some Republicans by backing President Bush's plan to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (A.N.W.R.).
Hoffa said on a conference call with reporters that he has not discussed the ways in which his position on the issue differs with that of Obama.
Like Clinton and McCain, Obama opposes ANWR drilling.
"I don't think that that's one of the issues in this race right now," Hoffa told ABC News. "We are not pushing ANWR at this time. That is an issue that we talked about almost five years ago. That is not a current issue in these debates and we have not talked about that with the senator."
A Teamsters spokesman told ABC News that the union still sees drilling in the Arctic refuge as a jobs creator but said that the union's current priorities lie elsewhere.
"Obviously, we still believe that it would create a lot of jobs," Teamsters spokesman Bret Caldwell told ABC News. "But it's not a political priority. It's not going to be a political priority, and it's not going to be something that we are focusing on in this campaign. We have to pick and choose what we focus on."
With the Teamsters behind Obama, the Illinois Democrat now has the support of the four largest unions which belong to the "Change to Win" labor coalition. Those familiar with "Change to Win's" plans expect Obama to win the coalition's endorsement on Thursday. Read more here.
February 20, 2008 in Clinton, Hillary, Obama, Barack | Permalink | User Comments (20)
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The Teamsters noticed that the tide was way out, so they better run out, jump in and start swimming, or they might get left out of the party. Only problem, a tsunami is on the way, they just haven't realized it yet. Outsmarted by the Republicans once again.
Posted by: WestCoastMessenger | Feb 20, 2008 7:47:06 PM
Barack Obama has the courage and insight to stand up to Clinton's NAFTA. It must be changed to save what's left of the American way of life. He has a solution here which the Clintons just don't have to guts to come up with. NAFTA was an betrayal of labor support that has caused devastation to America's workers. The Clinton's should never be supported by any union for this. The teamsters just used common sense in swinging to Obama' side.
Posted by: robby10001 | Feb 20, 2008 8:21:13 PM
This is one year where the teamsters are on the right side of REPUBLIC and history.
The clinton's are internationalists and socialists, fortunately the internationalists part has damaged labor with outsourcing and fealty to cash instead of to the country such that the socialist cause has been set aside...That is very good and hopeful.
Capitalism IS NOT fascism
Democracy IS NOT socialism
The proper role of the nation-state in discouraging equity from seeking narrow self interest abroad at the expense of the long term health of the REPUBLIC domestically is thwarted by the unions then abusing that domestic interest to make business lack competitiveness with our enemies abroad...NOTE: ALL FOREIGN COUNTRIES ARE OUR ENEMIES...
Sovereignty is always a sovereign excess and a sovereign abuse...EXCEPT for nation-state sovereignty...
Their can NOT ever be a FREE MARKET ECONOMY GLOBALLY- because the nation-state rod IS only applicable within a certain country and NOT outside it's borders,(the current policy most foreign NOT withstanding). Their IS NO HONORING equity or the long term interest of a nation-state by foreign powers...as we sadly see too much of today even no honor exists by those stewards of equity within the nation-state whose @SSes and assets are protected by the soldiers,(culled from amongst the poor), and whose factories are supplied by these same poor and whose roads, and plants, and energy infrastructure is also so built.
I am happy that perhaps america is finally waking up to the fact that unless the nation-state rod is taken out of the hands of traitors like right-wing socialist bush and left wing socialist clinton and put back in the hands of good old REPUBLIC Uncle Sam...then we will continue to lack FOOD/ ENERGY/ and ECONOMIC SECURITY!
Also please note: the 300+ firefighters and 3000+ dead American Civilians mass murdered on 911 by the 'war games gone wild' augustus bushie II war profiteering anarchist and war criminal crowd.
That asbestos in the WTC could have been removed by labor, and those firefighters could still be alive today.
We DO NOT have to have an economy where people serve the economy instead of the economy serving the people in order to be sucessful.
We do not require military jobs and war and mass murder to have a rising economy and to create jobs.
I hope labor is finally seeing that corruption is simply not good FOR ANYONE...including labor.
Remember WACO/ OAKLAHOMA/ 911
END THE BUSH CLINTON BUSH
VOTE CHANGE...
and then take ONE DAY out of your life to honor the 911 dead and examine what remains of the evidence:
Earth not appearing in the picture- look at the 'images' you were fed on 911 again more objectively
Nose of plane in nose of plane out due to camera drift that was covered over on fox with a pop-up on replay...
the 7-17 seconds allowed images to be inserted and layered but did not allow time to double check
Whendid the demo crew get the call to controll detonate WTC #7?!!? In that chaos? In under two weeks? To wedge a 47 floor steel building that housed C & C bunkers...that were NOT used on 911?!!?
How come the steel was shipped to china without forensic examination?
How can an aluminum plane INSERT itself into a building with 14" BOX COLUMNS of 2" THICK STEEL that ARE SPACED WITH 26" GAPS BETWEEN THEM? If you are unfamiliar with the reality of this insanely ridiculous proposition see NASA's controlled impact study of 757 in desert- with merely six steel tripods and a plywood board of electronic matches they try and incinerate a plane...despite skewing the plane to attempt to incinerate it in a fireball- the wing still goes 90 degrees and flies off when hitting three steel tripods...
You have been lied to and those ARE YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS that were MASS MURDERED on 911 by your government and military in their 'war games gone wild' fall 20001 edition.
If you really do love jesus and you really are patriots TAKE ONE DAY OUT OF YOUR LIFE TO QUESTION WHAT YOU WERE TOLD...AND THEN YOU HAVE TRUELY HONORED THE INNOCENT DEAD
Peace
Posted by: Liam Brent Kelly | Feb 20, 2008 8:59:04 PM
McCain:In 1986 McCain was elected to the Senate and his wife Cindy joined Lobbyist Keating in investing in a shopping mall in Arizona. Mr Keating took over the Lincoln Savings & Loan Association. Keating urged John McCain to hold back Banking Regulators. McCain did as his FRIEND Keating asked for many years. McCain even wrote letters to the Regulators, introduced legislation favoring Keating's S&L and other Lobbyists friends. McCain help secure the nomination of a Keating associate to the Regulatory Banking Board. John McCain even joined with 4 senators and had 2 private meeting with the Banking Regulatory Board and told them to ease off Keating and the Lincoln S&L. When the Lincoln S&L went bankrupt it cost taxpayers 3.4 BILLION DOLLARS! Ethics? Moral? Yeah right, I've got a bridge in the middle of the ocean. Any takers? Obama08
Posted by: Angie | Feb 20, 2008 11:11:05 PM
The Teamsters pretty well cancels out Hillary's hokey 527 in Ohio.
Blue collar workers vs rich New York lawyers. Who are they gonna listen to?
Lots of trucks in Texas.
Posted by: JB | Feb 21, 2008 11:07:44 AM
Hillary has never had to do physical labor. Even when she worked as a lawyer in the Rose Law firm, she was given a make-work job in consideration for governor Bill's attention to Rose's rich clients. Hillary was born very well off, and she thinks that throwing sops to working class supporters are enough signs of gratitude for their votes. She and her rich New York and D.C. friends dine on elegant food and vacation in expensive resorts.
Posted by: tanaS | Feb 21, 2008 11:56:10 AM
Barackcrazies and Obamacrazies i think it is time to drop your craziness and face realities .Please stop being crazy and vote solutions rather than craziness.Vote Hillary to save you rather than Obama the author of craziness that will make you more crazy
527? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thank God at last someone is coming to rescue Hillary.No this has been unfair of the American Press this is bad!!!!!!!!!!!! CNN, NYT ETC. because we dont really know if to say that the American election is no more Obama for president but American press for president. I think we should say insted of Obama for president CNN for president or NYT for president
Posted by: Tiptop | Feb 21, 2008 12:07:57 PM
While Hillary was creating 527's to smear Barack Obama, Obama was winning his 11th primary in a row. The Democrats Abroad Primary, 65% Obama, 32% Clinton.
Posted by: GC | Feb 21, 2008 12:29:56 PM
This just in: Liam Brent Kelly's thorazine prescription was finally renewed. He is now in Mr. Happy place again. Crackpot.
Posted by: Jerry | Feb 21, 2008 1:31:37 PM
When Hillary finally started pointing to the fact that BO is all talk and no evidence of work supporting his philosophy, it was only after CNN,MSNBC and FOX have been attacking her all year in support of BO. She is having to campaign against the media and the media attacks her again when she starts to attack which she has every right to do. Hillary is running for President, aside from selling her self, she needs to discredit her opponent. That is NORMAL. Unfortunately, BO has had free press (From a Right Wing media, this is the scary part) selling him attacking her. Teamsters claim it was the members, yeah, regular people who bought the media sell.
Posted by: irmah | Feb 21, 2008 1:37:28 PM
Why would Teamsters support Obama when he voted AGAINST:
"To prohibit weakening any law that provides safeguards from unfair foreign trade practices."
Obama (D-IL), Nay
Clinton (D-NY), Yea
Meanwhile: Hillary has called for a timeout on trade agreements in the first several months of her presidency to provide an opportunity to systematically review every trade agreement to ensure that it is delivering benefits to American workers.
ALSO:
The National Journal concluded that Sen. Obama was "the most likely presidential candidate to support further trade liberalization."
Google away - it's all out there.
Posted by: MarySnow | Feb 21, 2008 3:31:16 PM
MarySnow ,
I think Obama said he pushed the worong vote button on that. He has a problem finding the right button their written in english But then again , it could just be another bonehead move. ROFL
Posted by: eleven22 | Feb 21, 2008 5:14:06 PM
lol yeah that was stupid, I love obama, hes going to be the next president of the UNited states.
Posted by: | Feb 21, 2008 5:23:57 PM
I'm proud to be an organizer for the Teamsters and I'm in total support of Barrack Obama.
Posted by: Luca | Feb 21, 2008 7:15:05 PM
Was the “UNited states” intentional or just a Freudian slip? Obama will certainly give the US to the UN as would Hillary given the chance.
Posted by: jijalagi | Feb 21, 2008 10:24:03 PM
The teamsters gave their members a voice, it was the members who have bought the media sell, that voted to back Obama. I think the Union felt caught in the middle. They are. According to polls, we are an even split in support for both. However, I need to remind people that a lot of the votes for Obama came from Independent/Republicans in open elections. Last I read 64%. Come on people! That is a problem. Especially considering that she has nearly 90% of the long time Democratic base, and not everyone in that base is near death, sorry BO supporters.
Posted by: irma | Feb 21, 2008 10:42:35 PM
The Clintons gave us NAFTA and the Chinese Trade Agreement, resulting in two million lost jobs here. Their only loyalty lies with their corporate donors, who were the ones who benefitted greatly from these trade agreements, while the American worker was left out in the cold. Obama understood these trade agreements were wrong before they were signed, and spoke out against them as being unfair to our labor. His pledge to correct them is thus believable. Vote Obama if you care about Americans getting some jobs back and stopping the flow of more out of our country.
Posted by: Lydia | Feb 21, 2008 11:29:17 PM
Jimmy Hoffa of the Teamster's union is the sone of Jimmy Hoffa that the mob murdered years ago and they did not find his body. That union was connected in some way to them. They are backing Obama because they don't want another Clinton in the white house. Clinton is too smart for them and Obama is too dumb to them. That union is crooked and always has been. I know all about that union from years ago. And Kennedy stumping in Texas. He's another one. Murdering that girlfriend of his that was pregnant and letting her drown. He should have been voted out of the senate. Kerry is another one. I voted for him but now I have no respect for him and both of them stabbed Hillary in the back when she herself campaigned for bothe of them.
Posted by: Mariann Pepitone | Feb 22, 2008 10:23:18 AM
Luca: Are you as crooked as the teamster's union? I know about the teamster'e union years ago when James Hoffa father of Jimmy Hoffa was murdered and the body never found. Give me a break. Are they still connected to the MOB? Most of the people making comments don't know about this union but after the James Hoffa murder it should have been closed down. This union will always be crooked. Get honest with the public. This union is known to people that are still around when Hoffa died.
Posted by: Mariann Pepitone | Feb 22, 2008 10:34:29 AM
Mariann Pepitone wrote: Patrick would be the VP and make the decisions behind the scenes for dumb Obama.
----------------------------------------
Dumb Obama? Graduated from college with honors. Elected Editor of the Harvard Law Review, an honor bestowed upon the brightest and most promising law student. Professor of Constitutional Law. A United States Senator. We should all be so dumb!
Posted by: lhummer | Feb 22, 2008 11:52:33 AM
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