Is President Obama rediscovering the economically populist voice that fueled his campaign? After spending a week traveling to locales outside the eliteosphere in Washington, D.C., it seems like he certainly might be:
The president, as reported by the Detroit Free Press, "said he believes there is no economic risk to workers organizing and making a living wage."
The Philadelphia Inquirer, meanwhile, quoted Obama as saying he didn't "buy the argument that providing workers with collective-bargaining rights somehow weakens the economy or worsens the business environment." Moreover, the paper reported that Obama "would not urge a delay in consideration of the Employee Free Choice Act."
When I read this, my reaction was a fist pump - perhaps the first full-on fist pump I've been moved to engage in since the inauguration. The battle for the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) and for union rights in general is going to be bruising precisely because Big Money knows it really could make the economic playing field far more fair for workers.
That Obama - the naturally cautious conciliator - is effectively saying he welcomes that bruising battle is encouraging, because the faster it happens, the sooner that playing field will be fixed. And to pass EFCA we're going to need both a huge amount of grassroots pressure AND Obama's bully pulpit, which he seems ready to use.
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