Gut-Check

One of the blessings accompanying the shame of Barack's victory is the timing. This is not a moment for pushing measures that are bad economic policy, so the Obama administration will have to kick obviously destructive political payoff policy proposals down the road.

Obama is a cosponsor of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act, which is also called the “card check” bill. The measure would allow workers to join a union when a majority of them sign authorization cards. Industry groups are strongly opposed to the bill, which is a top priority for unions. Republicans and business groups say the bill would compromise a worker’s right to cast a private ballot on whether to join a union.

Is card-check a good idea? Former Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern says:

The legislation is called the Employee Free Choice Act, and I am sad to say it runs counter to ideals that were once at the core of the labor movement. Instead of providing a voice for the unheard, EFCA risks silencing those who would speak. As a longtime friend of labor unions, I must raise my voice against pending legislation I see as a disturbing and undemocratic overreach not in the interest of either management or labor.

Nancy Pelosi has tried to temper expectations of "change" as the change candidate claims victory - cognisant of the fact that even in good times, much of what liberals want is just not doable.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday called on President-elect Barack Obama to govern from the middle, as her party sat poised to gain its widest House majority in 15 years.

And the auto manufacturers, suffering from the bad deals they were intimidated into making with unions through the years, are looking for a government payout. Is this a time to give more power to the unions when we're paying for their destructive impact?

Is this a time to bail out the unions, who have done so much damage? Hopefully, Barack will realize we can't afford it.