Posted on 06/28/2009 12:59:45 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
They led the most powerful forces in healthcare -- the trade groups representing doctors, insurance companies, hospitals and drug makers. Any one of them could stall, if not derail, President Obama's hopes of overhauling the U.S. healthcare system.
Instead, they stood with Obama before TV cameras at the White House and pledged their cooperation. For Obama, the show of unity gave momentum to perhaps his most ambitious domestic goal.
But the moment was a victory, as well, for another man invited to the event that morning in May. Andy Stern heads the SEIU, the union that helped corral the industry groups, and his presence at the White House was a fresh sign of his formidable clout with Obama.
When the president met privately with the health industry leaders that day, Stern and a second Service Employees International Union official were the only labor representatives in the room.
In a fractious labor movement fraught with rivalries and mutual suspicion, Stern's close association with Obama has given him cachet that may prove important in the fierce competition to lure new members.
But Stern's access to the White House has also provoked jealousies. His opponents paint him as a polarizing figure that Obama elevates at his own peril.
The Obama-Stern relationship has emerged as one of the most curious within the young administration.
The SEIU spent $60 million to help elect Obama, according to the union. Stern said the group deployed 100,000 volunteers during the campaign, including 3,000 who worked on the election full time.
Now in the White House, Obama has continued to derive political benefits from the union. It was the SEIU's health chief, Dennis Rivera, who helped bring industry to the table to start talks on a healthcare overhaul.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
This comes as zero surprise.
The list, ping
An interesting start to Obama’s twentythird week in office.
If a corporation did this, what would be the voters' reaction?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2280539/posts
Behind the scene...
Who is funding the Obamacare campaign?
By Michelle Malkin | Saturday, June 27, 2009
great article by Michelle as she connects the bums sorry dots
Service Employees International Union - SEIU
Health Care for America Now HCAN
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
MoveOn
Center for American Progress –
Campaign for America’s Future (pro-welfare state lobbying group)
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now — ACORN founder Wade Rathke (who owes Pike of Tides big x)
Health Care for America Education Fund
Tides Foundation/Tides Center founder Drummond Pike (Teresa Heinz Kerry)
Michelle did a great job of connecting
Why is this “Curious” LA TImes? Where have y’all been?
Hussein is lame.
Why is this “Curious” LA TImes? Where have y’all been?
BINGO, we have a winner!
GM (Government Motors) has chosen the Lake Orion, MI, plant instead of the former Saturn plant in Spring Hill, TN, to build the little Obama car because in Michigan they can force ALL the workers to join the UAW (Unamerican Angles Web).
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