-By Warner Todd Huston
So, Barack Obama claims he is a reformer. He claims he wants to clean up Washington D.C. He acts as if he just wants the truth told to the people. Well, here is some truth. According to the Wall Street JournalBarack has promised the Teamsters that if they give him their support he will kill the current Federal oversight agency that was created to root out union corruption in the workplace.
Yes, Barack Obama has said that he wishes to protect corruption, not eliminate it. Has he agreed to turn his back on fighting corruption merely so that he might be able to count the votes of union thugs in his column?
It has been revealed by inside sources that Obama secretly promised the Teamsters that he will end the strict oversight that the Federal government has through an independent oversight board that was set up in 1992 because of the mob influence rampant in the Teamsters. Obama has claimed that he favors “examining” the review board, but refuses to state publicly what that means.
However, the Wall Street Journal claims that they have found out that Obama means to scale back the board and this isn’t too hard to believe since the Democrat controlled Congress has also been slow to approve funding of the Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) of late, paving the way to defund it and let it lie fallow. If Obama follows suit with the Democrats in Congress who are trying to give corrupt unions a free hand to indulge in more corruption with no government interference, it would seem to fit the Democrat agenda. This also shows that Obama is no “reformer” and not interested in changing anything in Washington but the party of the President.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Obama’s secret promises are a bit “unusual.”
It’s an unusual stance for a presidential candidate. Policy makers have largely treated monitoring of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters as a legal matter left to the Justice Department since an independent review board was set up in 1992 to eliminate mob influence in the union.
You bet it seems an “unusual stance” especially from the so-called candidate of “change.” After all, a secret deal to eliminate an agency that has been very effective at rooting out union crime and corruption does not ring true with a candidate who claims that he wants a “new day” of truth in Washington D.C.
Obama has said, though, that his promises to the Teamsters is not a “blanket commitment.”
But, what Obama is quoted as having said is just another example of his penchant of say nothing at all and using a whole lot of words to do it.
“I wouldn’t make any blanket commitments,” the Illinois senator told ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
“What I’ve said is that I would examine what is going on in terms of the federal oversight that’s been taking place but it’s been in place for many years.”
Obama said the Teamsters had done “a terrific job cleaning house” and suggested it could be time for the Teamsters “to get treated just like every other union.”
“That’s something that I’ll absolutely examine when I’m president of the United States,” he said.
This is all stuff and nonsense. Has he made a commitment to let the a corrupt, Mob infested union off the hook or not? No one can say because he talked out of both sides of his mouth once again.
It should be noted, too, that this oversight of the Teamsters is independent of politics and is a venue of the Justice Department. But, if Obama really does end up trying to eliminate a review board that has been successful in rooting out criminals in unions, how does this make him a “fresh voice” in Washington? It looks more like he is just another Democrat that panders to unions and turns his face from their criminal activities.
Not much “change” there.
____________
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, townhall.com, New Media Journal, Men’s News Daily and the New Media Alliance among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston