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Obama ‘honored’ by union’s endorsement

by Joe LoVerde

Aug 7, 2008 12:04 PM

CHICAGO – The 3,500-plus delegates to the AFT convention — including 620 UFTers — voted overwhelmingly on July 13 to endorse the presidential candidacy of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

Immediately following the endorsement, Obama thanked the delegates live via satellite, saying he was “honored” by the endorsement and telling the delegates he needed the union’s help to get to the White House.

“From your earliest days in Chicago, you’ve stood up for change,” the Chicagoan said. “When minorities weren’t allowed full union membership, when parents fought to integrate our schools, when it was time to take the march for civil rights to Washington — you stood up.”

Obama pledged that if AFT members worked for him these next few months, “I promise you this: We will win this election; we will change education in this country; and we will bring about a better future for our children and for this country we love.”

The following day, during her speech to the delegates after being elected president of the national union, UFT President Randi Weingarten said Sen. Obama’s pledge to undertake reform in a manner “that is developed with teachers, not imposed on them,” was critically important.

Weingarten reminded the delegates that Obama and Republican candidate John McCain offer two very different records, two very different philosophies and two very different visions for the country’s future.

“Sen. Obama will make history not only because of who he is,” Weingarten said, “but because of where he will lead America.”

Weingarten said that McCain’s education ideas are “the same old failed quick fixes. McCain’s plan repeats schemes like vouchers that haven’t helped eliminate the achievement gap. We must keep the focus on improving neighborhood public schools — attended by 90 percent of our children. I believe, as does Sen. Barack Obama, that we need a bold, new vision with reforms that strengthen our public schools.”

The day before the endorsement, Sen. Hillary Clinton — endorsed by the AFT during the primaries — made an appearance at the convention and encouraged delegates to get behind Obama.

“I know Sen. Obama,” Clinton said. “I’ve campaigned with him and against him. I know his story represents the American dream. And I know he wants to take that experience into the White House to make that dream available to others.”

With this endorsement, the AFT launched an all-out effort to inform its more than 1.4 million members about where the candidates stand on the issues and to mobilize them to help elect Obama in November. The AFT turned out a record number of members to vote in the presidential primaries, and plans to build on that effort during the general election campaign.

Weingarten said the AFT “will work enthusiastically to make him president.”

The UFT, meanwhile, will be working hard at home to urge its 200,000 members to vote for Sen. Obama. At the union’s June Delegate Assembly, delegates voted to “urge the AFT to explore at the July convention the endorsement of Sen. Obama.”

“Barack Obama shares our belief that the No Child Left Behind law was flawed and that we need a law that truly helps schools instead of hurts them,” said Marvin Reiskin, UFT director for legislation/political action. “He also has pledged to ensure all Americans have access to affordable, high-quality health care; and to bring home American troops as soon as possible.”