Labor Day in Old Milwaukee: Obama and the Urgency of ‘Our Cause’

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6400/labor_day_in_old_milwaukee/

Tuesday September 7 8:35 am

By Kari Lydersen


President Obama speaks at Milwaukee's Labor Day rally on September 6, 2010. Obama unveiled a six-year, $50 billion proposal to improve the nation's highways, airports and railways. (Photo by David Banks/Getty Images)


When it comes to labor, Milwaukee sits perhaps a bit in the shadow of Chicago to the south. But Milwaukee has a rich labor history of its own, including a five-day sweeping industrial work stoppage in the 1886 fight for the eight-hour day and the later success of “Fighting Bob” La Follette’s Progressive Party. Milwaukee is still a bastion of union jobs at plants including Harley-Davidson, where a tentative deal was reached Friday to narrowly avoid moving production of the famous motorcycles.(See Roger Bybee's blog about the issue here.)

Hence it was fitting that President Obama spent Labor Day at Milwaukee’s annual Laborfest, where he announced a $50 billion jobs plan centered around transportation infrastructure including the construction or rehabbing of 150,000 miles of roads, 4,000 miles of rail and 150 miles of air runways. (Read his speech here).

Obama described the economy as a car driven into a ditch by Republicans, and decried their hopes for a case of collective amnesia that would help them get the keys back.

Obama also visited Milwaukee's Laborfest during his presidential campaign two years ago. This year, Milwaukee was likely chosen by the administration largely because of two tight races in upcoming elections – for U.S. Senator Russ Feingold’s seat and the governor’s mansion. Feingold is the only running incumbent whose Senate seat is considered up for grabs with the potential to tip the political balance in the Senate.

And popular Democratic Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett is running for governor against either Republican Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker or former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann. Both Feingold and Barrett are being significantly outspent by their wealthy opponents, and recent polls have placed them in extremely tight races. Polls also show Obama’s support in Wisconsin dropping, to below 50 percent in an August Rasmussen report.

FULL story at link.