Why Is Barack Obama Silent On SEIU Attacks After Denouncing Similar Independent Expenditures Earlier In The Primaries?
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The Service Employees International Union Has Launched An Advertisement Attacking Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) Health Care Proposals:
SEIU Ad On Sen. McCain's Health Care Plan: "[J]ohn McCain won't stop rising health care costs." (Service Employees International Union Committee On Political Education, "SEIU Spot Ohio," Aired 4/28/08)
During His 2008 Presidential Campaign, Obama Has Criticized Independent Expenditures And "Slash And Burn Politics":
Obama's Campaign Attempted To Turn Independent Expenditures Into A Campaign Issue, Claiming "This Kind Of Politics Needs To End." "No outside groups have distributed mailers or run advertisements on Obama's behalf in New Hampshire, and Obama has attempted to turn that distance into a campaign issue. 'The case has never been clearer - this kind of politics needs to end,' Obama campaign manager David Plouffe wrote in a recent fundraising e-mail." (Sarah Liebowitz, "Edwards, Clinton Bankrolled From Afar," Concord [NH] Monitor, 1/4/08)
Obama: "[Y]ou can't say yesterday, you don't believe in 'em, and today, you're having three-quarters of a million dollars being spent for you. You can't just talk the talk." (Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At A Campaign Event, Oskaloosa, IA, 12/22/07)
Obama: "We've got to get beyond the small politics ... the slash and burn politics that have become the custom in Washington." ("Obama Denounces 'Slash And Burn' Politics," The Associated Press, 2/19/07)
Despite His Criticisms, Obama Has Received Millions Of Dollars In Independent Political Expenditures:
Obama Is A Leading Recipient Of Independent Political Expenditures. "Sen. Barack Obama, whose campaign has sharply criticized the role of outside political groups in the presidential race, has benefited more than any other candidate from millions of dollars in independent political expenditures, records show. The increasing support for Mr. Obama has given him a boost from the same sort of political activity his campaign has railed against, especially when millions of dollars in union and other special-interest money backed his opponents." (Jim McElhatton, "Obama Favorite Of Outside Groups," The Washington Times, 3/24/08)
Labor Unions And Other Independent Groups Have Already Spent Over $7.1 Million In Support Of Obama's Campaign. "The political arm of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and other independent groups have spent more than $7.1 million directly supporting the Illinois Democrat's bid for the presidential nomination, campaign records show." (Jim McElhatton, "Obama Favorite Of Outside Groups," The Washington Times, 3/24/08)
The SEIU Alone Has Spent At Least $4.9 Million In Independent Expenditures Supporting Obama. "Since last week, the SEIU reported spending more than a quarter-million dollars supporting Mr. Obama through door-to-door canvassing and phone banks in Pennsylvania, which holds its primary April 22. Overall, the group has reported $4.9 million in independent expenditures for Mr. Obama, mostly during the past month." (Jim McElhatton, "Obama Favorite Of Outside Groups," The Washington Times, 3/24/08)
WHAT YOU WON'T SEE IN THE AD
Obama Refuses To Discuss Problems Associated With His Own Health Care Plan:
Obama's Health Care Plan Has "Little" To Say About The "Immediate Challenge" Of Taming The "Soaring Costs Of Medicare And Medicaid." "While Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama fight over who has the better health plan for the uninsured, they say little about a more immediate challenge that will confront the next administration, whether Democratic or Republican: how to tame the soaring costs of Medicare and Medicaid." (Robert Pear, "About Those Health Care Plans By The Democrats," The New York Times, 3/3/08)
Obama Is "Low-Balling" The Cost Of His Plan And Ignoring The "Tough-But-Necessary" Measures To Control Costs. "Even so, Clinton and Obama are heavy on promises about making insurance affordable and available, and light on the more painful details. ... More important, both might be low-balling the cost of their plans, and neither proposes the kind of tough-but-necessary measures needed to control surging health care costs. ... Even if the Clinton or Obama plans could be afforded at the outset (they would be financed by repealing President Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy), they'd be doomed by a continuation of today's inflation in health care costs. Cost containment is key to making any overhaul work. In fact, even without a big new program, it is crucial to forestall a health care-driven fiscal meltdown of the federal government and to stop employers from dropping health benefits for wor kers." (Editorial, "Candidates' Health Plans Duck Some Key Questions," USA Today, 2/19/08)
Obama's Plan Includes Required Employer Coverage Similar To The Failed Clinton Mandate Of 1993. "Obama would require almost all employers to offer insurance to workers or face a tax penalty, an idea that many businesses abhor and that is also in Edwards's proposal. This employer mandate drove much of the opposition to the Clinton plan in 1994." (Anne E. Kornblut and Perry Bacon Jr., "Obama Says Washington Is Ready For Health Plan," The Washington Post, 5/30/07)
Obama Features A Mandate On Employers, Which Was The "Most Controversial Element" Of The Doomed Clinton Plan. "Obama's plan contains many of the features of the failed health care proposal pushed more than a decade ago by his rival, Hillary Clinton, that went down in flames in 1994, including its most controversial element: a legal mandate that employers provide coverage for their workers, or pay a percentage of their payroll into a fund for the uninsured." (Karen Tumulty, "Obama Channels Hillary On Healthcare," Time, 5/29/07)
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