Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[ieddyi]

Change the Teamsters can believe in, part 3

Earlier this month I wrote about Barack Obama's commitment to the Teamsters to support ending federal oversight of the union here and here. Obama made the commitment to the Teamsters while (successfully) seeking the union's endorsement of him. His commitment to the Teamsters is bad on the merits and unsavory to boot.

Now John Judis explores the subject in "The local." The article's subhead reads: "The Teamsters in Chicago are continually linked to organized crime--so why is a presidential candidate from that city promising to end federal oversight of the union?" Corruption and mob influence are still forces to be reckoned with in the Teamsters Chicago local. Judis shows Obama to be practicing a very old-style kind of Democratic politics.

As I wrote earlier on this subject, some Democrats recently sought the impeachment of an attorney general for politicizing justice by the firing of eight United States Attorneys. Many Democrats joined in driving the attorney general from office on the charge. I believe the charge was bogus in the case of Alberto Gonzales. But Democrats are now about to nominate a presidential candidate who is engaged in something that looks very much like the genuine article.