NEA chief Dennis Van Roekel proposes they back Obama -- again
In the 2008 election cycle, the National Education Association, the largest union in the USA, by far, spent more money on the Obama campaign than any other union, had more volunteers working for him, and more members on the floor of the Democratic National Convention than any other group. NEA leaders like Dennis Van Roekel, now President of NEA, bragged about their effective support for Obama repeatedly.
Arne Duncan (left) and Dennis Van Roekel of the NEA were all smiles on the stage of the NEA's 2009 Representative Assembly. The event took place during the opening salvos of Race To The Top. But in 2011, Van Roekel is urging the NEA to vote for an early endorsement of Barack Obama at its July 2011 RA. Substance photo by Rich Gibson.Now, after a third war; $12.9 trillion of financial bailouts to Wall Street and other major financial institutions; Arne Duncan and the "Race To The Top"; a full scale assault on reason and wages in school; 2.3 million mostly poor and black people incarcerated; attacks on immigrants that exceed the Bush era; a speech about the assassination of Osama Bin Laden that dripped with mysticism, nationalism and treacle; the refusal to publish the OBL photos denying he's a trophy, then a victory lap at "ground zero"; and a very real promise of perpetual war matched by booming inequality as the bill for foreign invasions comes home to workers after all this, NEA wants to be an early endorser of Arne Duncan.
NEA's President Dennis Van Roekel's Letter to NEA Delegates of May 5, 2011 follows:
"Friends: On Thursday, May 5, 2011, the NEA Political Action Committee approved a recommendation to come to RA delegates — our highest governing body — to support the re-election of President Barack Obama. During the Representative Assembly, July 2-5, delegates will act on the PAC's recommendation.
"To be very clear, this does not mean that NEA has endorsed or recommended President Obama. What it means is that the PAC Council — which includes every NEA state Association president and representatives from several constituent groups — will be asking you, our RA delegates, to recommend President Obama this summer in Chicago.
"The obvious questions: Why now? What are the advantages and disadvantages for our members? And what are the advantages and disadvantages for our Association? I expect you will have lots more questions of your own -- and we will have plenty of time to debate this at the Representative Assembly.
"For now, please watch my new video on Dennis2Delegates for my personal message to you on this action, which takes on some of the obvious questions posed above.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was featured on all of the posters at the beginning of the NEA 2009 Representative Assembly (RA), and Duncan's speech to the RA was one of the most highly publicized highlights of the event. The posters and theme of the RA echoed the Barack Obama "Hope" message from the 2008 national elections. Substance photo by Rich Gibson."And please continue to check D2D regularly in the coming weeks. This site will be a great source of information leading up to the 2011 Representative Assembly, and well beyond the RA as we take on so many important issues that affect us. /Dennis Van Roekel/"
[Rich Gibson is an emeritus professor at San Diego State University. rgibson@pipeline.com]
By: Mike Ombry
Foolishness
I will try to refrain from profanity. Are you ******* kidding me! Arne Duncan is a joke and the NEA needs to call BS on Obama and follow the Firefighters and sit this one out at the presidential level.
I will be contacting everyone I know and raising hell to oppose this endorsement. As a union we need to grow a pair and call BS where and whenever we see it.
Every union in this country is paying the price of compromise after compromise. Those that oppose us will never be satisfied until unionism is dead. Well, we will never be stronger than we are right now and we need to look out for ourselves and our other union brothers and sisters. If we are the biggest union in the country then we need to lead, not follow.
Most of the action is at the state level. We need to work to elect pro union folk at that level. Case in point the Employee Free Choice Act did not even come up for a vote when we controlled both houses of Congress and the White House.
Get it? Good.