Public Employee Press


2008 Political Action
CHANGE comes to America

Union went all-out for Obama and Dems expanded lead in Congress

Amid a nationwide wave of layoffs and fiscal failure, Barack Obama spoke directly to the economic needs of working people and on Nov. 4 became the first African American to be elected president of the United States.

The son of a white woman from Kansas and an economist from Kenya, Obama never made race a campaign issue, but his victory wrote a new chapter in American history by toppling the longstanding racial barrier to the White House.

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible . . . tonight is your answer,” Obama said in his victory speech in Chicago.
On Election Day, with 135 million Americans voting, a strong 52-46 percent majority said “Enough!” to the disastrous war and economic policies of George W. Bush.

The campaign of Obama and Sen. Joe Biden reached out to working families with its goals of more jobs, guaranteed health care and middle-class tax cuts.

Obama won a landslide of electoral votes that stood at 364 to McCain’s 162, captured two states in the formerly Republican “solid South,” made major gains for progressive politics in growing Western states, and expanded the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.

Inspiring leadership and the transformative slogan, “Yes We Can!” trumped racism and fear Nov. 4, and spontaneous victory celebrations broke out from coast to coast.

Obama supporters — young and old, black, white, Hispanic, Asian and Native American, men and women and straight and gay — danced in the streets and wept for joy.

“Senator Obama challenged us to believe that we have the power to change America,” said Gerald W. McEntee, president of DC 37’s national union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

“We cannot underestimate the importance of this election for working people, African Americans and all Americans,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

Rooted in community organizing, Obama tossed out the old political playbook and redrew the electoral map. His camp harnessed the Internet to engage a growing and diverse constituency whose small contributions helped build a $750 million war chest. Grassroots voter-registration drives involved millions in politics for the first time, and rallies of up to 150,000 in urban centers amplified the movement’s morale.

Yes We Did
African American, Latino, women, youth and union voters helped make the difference. In battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio, union members supported the Obama-Biden ticket by a huge 69-28 margin, helping raise his overall victory tally to 51-47. Women backed him by a 13 percent margin, young voters went for him by 2-1, and strong Latino support carried him over the top in key Western states.

The labor movement played a decisive role as 250,000 union volunteers worked the streets and phone banks Election Day, including 40,000 from AFSCME. DC 37 joined in AFSCME’s member-to-member program, busing 40 volunteers to help register voters in the Philadelphia suburbs.

And in New York City, DC 37 volunteers phoned 10,000 unregistered union members, activists registered 10 co-workers and family members each, and retirees and members of locals 371, 372, 420, 436, 768, 957, 1113, 1549, and 1655 ran a Sept. 29 Back-to-School Registration Jam for new young voters.

Roberts wrote members, urging them to register, vote, and support union-endorsed candidates. In all, DC 37 registered 1,200 new voters. Volunteers phoned 125,000 members, reminding them to vote, and on Election Day, more than 800 DC 37 activists canvassed neighborhoods from Co-op City to Crown Heights, and 99 percent of DC 37-backed candidates won their races.

Bolstered by endorsements from former Secretary of State Colin Powell, President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Clinton, who spoke at 70 campaign stops and rallies, Obama won with his message of hope and “The change we need.”

“This is our moment,” said President-elect Obama. “This is our time — to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth — that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: “Yes we can!