Yesterday, the AFL-CIO endorsed Barack Obama and formally put the weight of its 56 unions, 10 million members, a $54 million dollar budget and a pledge of 250, 000 volunteers behind the surging Democratic nominee-to-be (hate presumptive, don’t you?) Unfortunately, media coverage of the joyful moment was truncated by a discordant convergence of withering financial news — key analysts reported big banks are in more trouble than we thought, oil spiked up over $140 a barrel for the first time ever, the stock market tanked 358 points to its lowest level in two years, shares in General Motors slid down to a 33-year nadir, and my 401K lost three percent of its value, again. Is Obama headed for a one-term presidency? (More)

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Two of my favorite labor leaders died last week. One was a tall, handsome 97-year-old man who emigrated with his parents from Trinidad at age seven, grew up going to public schools and colleges in New York City and helped organize and direct what is now the biggest local union in America. The other was a diminutive, handsome 61-year-old woman who was arrested more than 90 times for demonstrating and picketing — for unionism, feminism, peace, civil rights, human rights, whatever. Both were unheralded, classy paragons of inspiration in a world too often dominated by whoever has the loudest mouth or the longest pedigree. (More)

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