The Past Week May 3-9, 2009 (Chicago Suits Pressure Wells Fargo; Push for a Single-Payer Advocate at Baucus Table; David Cameron Interview Re: British Politics One Year Away from Election)

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

Early in the week, my mother mentioned how Hart Schaffner Marx, the suit maker based in Chicago, were on verge of going under because Wells Fargo no longer wanted to back them.

My immediate reaction was that there’d be pressure put on Well Fargo.

Well, Chicago Correspondent Leslie sent this along which proves me right…although it wasn’t very difficult in today’s climate to think of this scenario. From WBBM 780 Chicago:

May 8, 3:29 AM EDT

Giannoulias threatens bank over Obama suit-maker

DES PLAINES, Ill. (AP) — Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias is threatening to pull state business from Wells Fargo & Co. unless the bank stops trying to liquidate a company that makes suits for President Barack Obama.

Giannoulias made the ultimatum outside a Hartmarx Corp. factory in Des Plaines Thursday. Chicago-based Hartmarx is the nation’s largest maker of men’s tailored clothing.

The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Jan. 23. It employs about 3,000 workers represented by the Service Employees International Union.

Giannoulias spokesman Scott Burnham says Wells Fargo is custodian of an $8 billion state portfolio.

We’ve explored Giannoulias’ actions in the past here at IA. See:

IL State Treasurer/Obama Ally Giannoulias Planning to Challenge Roland Burris–Report from Our Chicago Correspondent; Medicare Musings

Parts 1 & 2–The Lineup: A Who’s Who of The Associates of Barack Obama

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The folks over at HealthJustice continue pushing for single-payer to be included in the discussion about the “reform” of healthcare.  Their latest update:

Fax The Finance Committee Again
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Senate Finance Committee is hearing about health care reform, insurance-company-style, once more on May 12.  Thanks to courageous protests by the Baucus 8, there is a better chance that a single payer advocate will be at the table.  Three names are proposed: Rose Ann deMoro of CNA, Dr. Marcia Angell and Dr. Steffie Woolhandler.  Sen. Schumer of New York has tentatively agreed to ask Sen. Baucus to inslude a single payer voice if — and here is the rub — another senator will also ask.  The Senators to target are Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, Kerry of Massachusetts and Rockefeller of W.Virginia. So crank up those fax machines once more, especially if you are from these states, and lets blast the faxes to the White House and to the Senate Finance Committee members this weekend.  We have sent 27 thousand faxes to Congress so far.  Let’s send another 27 thousand just this weekend. Go to this page on 1payer to send your free fax. Send one. Send all.  Demand a seat at the table.

This game about needing to ask another senator has been pulled before, course.  We needed one Senator to get the ball rolling to fight the “selection” of Bush in 2000, remember?

Anyway, I’ve been emailing and faxing courtesy HealthJustice and I hope many readers will do the same!

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The Independent (UK) has an exclusive interview with the probable successor to Gordon Brown, Tory David Cameron.  It’s an interesting read and the next year before the election should be fascinating to see how it all unfolds.

…To the Tory leader and his party, this must be what waiting for power is like.

As it stands, Gordon Brown’s Government is reeling from setback after setback. The Prime Minister’s authority appears to be draining away. He is openly ridiculed by members of his own Cabinet, his expenses claim left open to question, his Government’s policy dictated to a minister by Joanna Lumley, the economy trapped in recession.

SNIP

It is Thursday 7 May, and in exactly a year’s time, if the polls are right and if Mr Brown is not ejected from office before then, Mr Cameron could be standing on the steps of 10 Downing Street having overnight brought to an end 13 years of Labour government.

Let’s recall how Obama and Cameron met during Obama’s summer tour of Europe.  At the time, this happened:

Breaking: Tory Leader David Cameron “Hearts” Obama, Talks about “Progessive Goals” Achieved by “Conservative Means”

At the time I wondered “Are Cameron and the Tories following Obama’s lead, or is it the other way around?”

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THE PAST WEEK

Saturday Sanity: The Antidote to the Madness (May 9, 2009) ROADRUNNER in the Yard!

A Black Blogger’s Take on Obama’s Ambivalence toward the Real Problems in the Black Community

Tidbits from the 100 Days Debacle/Join the W.A.M. ACTION Against the Mainstream Media

Kurdish Women “Bend It Like Beckham” Pursuing Freedom

The Past Week: April 26-May 2, 2009 (Cap & Trade Speed Bumps; Tiny Houses; Obama’s Unchecked Spending Could Doom Health, Energy Plans)

Breaking: Tory Leader David Cameron “Hearts” Obama, Talks about “Progessive Goals” Achieved by “Conservative Means”

Today’s Guardian (Wednesday, July 16) is running a story on an interview the paper conducted with David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party.  Cameron is echoing Obama’s comments in is Father’s Day speech about absent black fathers and the breakdown of the black family.

David Cameron joins the bitterly contested argument over family breakdown and race today by praising Barack Obama’s warning that too many black fathers have abandoned their responsibilities to their children.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Guardian, the Tory leader says that many black church leaders have expressed the same anxiety to him, and that it is time for a “responsibility revolution” to change patterns of behaviour.

Referring to Obama’s speech, in which the US Democratic presidential candidate warned that absent black fathers were behaving like teenagers and shirking their responsibilities to their children, Cameron said: “I think he’s absolutely right. I mean I think it’s a very brave thing to do. And it will have a huge influence that he has said it. I’ve had a number of meetings with black church leaders who make the same point. They are concerned about family breakdown and social breakdown, and want to see what I call a responsibility revolution take place.”

Is it really all that brave?  It’s been said before by Jesse Jackson and Martin Luther King, Jr. who also understood the barriers that contributed to the problem.  BIll Cosby set off a firestom of controversy when he revisited the subject back in May 2004. At that time, Cosby was roundly criticized for his comments (NPR report here).  But will Obama get the same treatment?  The same professor who was critical of Cosby in the above NPR report, Michael Eric Dyson, was out again last month, writing a piece for Time magazine, in which he opines that Obama’s speech was “calculated to win over socially conservative whites who were turned off by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s tirades against persistent racism.” He goes on to say that:

But in his desire to appeal to such voters, Obama may have missed the balance that King maintained. Personal responsibility is a crucial, but only partial, answer to what ails black families. Huge unemployment, racist mortgage practices, weakened child-care support, stunted training programs for blue-collar workers who’ve been made obsolete by technology, and the gutting of early-childhood learning programs are all forces that must be combated. If we rightly expect more black fathers to stick around to raise their children, we’ve got to give them a greater opportunity to stay home.

To many, Obama seems to be declaring the civil rights battle over and by diminishing the complexity of the issue, seems to be echoing right wing commentators more than Jackson or King.

Even more interesting is a comment Cameron made about how he views the modern Conservative Party in the UK.

Cameron “appeals to the centre and left ‘to recognise that the modern Conservative party is on the brink of a very big and exciting argument that if you want to pursue progressive goals in Britain, whether it is greening the environment, tackling poverty, unlocking social mobility, there is a really good case to say that you can best achieve those by Conservative means.'”

MMMMM. Are Cameron and the Tories following Obama’s lead, or is it the other way around?

“Progressive goals achieved by Conservative means.” If that isn’t a blurring of the political lines…

Keep an eye on that phrase…because it probably describes a lot of what we’ve heard already from Obama and more of what we might be hearing from him in the future…