Nurse Hillary? Clinton to Accept Union Challenge (Update1)

[TheBaldyMan]

this story from Bloomberg seems to have slipped through the net, datelined Friday 23rd Feb 2007 a story filed by Kristen Jensen features an http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aAQB39yKY53s&refer=home">interview with the SEIU supremo Andrew Stern on Bloomberg TV's show Political Capital with Al Hunt.

SEIU is the Service Employees International Union for those that don't know.

In response to a challenge to all democratic presidential hopefuls, Hillary Clinton has agreed to walk a mile in a service industry employee's shoes.

Stern has asked all the candidates to spend time with an ordinary family and work for a while alongside one of their members. John Edwards has already agreed and Barack Obama can't be far behind.

Stern has some salient points later in the interview regarding what his members view as important in the coming years. Iraq and healthcare.

On Iraq, Stern said he doesn't see a significant difference between the Democrats vying to become president in 2008. That sets him apart from many party activists, who are focused on the varying explanations that presidential candidates hailing from the Senate are offering for their vote to go to war.<snip>Iraq is a critical issue for SEIU members because many of them have children in the armed forces, and the union wants a definite timetable for withdrawal, Stern said.

``I appreciate that people are now getting very specific,'' Stern said. ``We're all talking about when the end date is.''

on the issue of healthcare Stern has this to say to the candidates

On his top issue of health care, Stern said Edwards's universal coverage plan is ``a huge step forward'' and he's looking forward to hearing from others. Stern has forged a coalition between his union and companies from retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to semiconductor maker Intel Corp. That may pave the way for an overhaul of the U.S. health-care system that the SEIU is advocating, he said.<snip> The SEIU is helping focus attention on the issue by co- sponsoring a health-care forum on March 24. Clinton, Edwards and Obama have all agreed to come, and their policies seem to be moving in the direction that the SEIU wants, Stern said.

``It's not just them -- it's the insurance industry, it's the hospital industry,'' Stern said. ``America is ready for change.''

It will be a sight to see, all the Democratic Party hopefuls working for a living, it will be a refreshing sight indeed.

I wonder if the Republicans receive a similar offer if any of them will be as quick to pull on the overalls and start to scrub floors?

[salin]

1. per your question at the end...

only long enough for a 30 second photo op.

[TheBaldyMan]

2. the mental picture of Guiliani, Romney or Brownback in a plastic pinafore

scraping the poo off an elderly person's butt fills me with an inward glee.

I know it's childish but I can't help myself.

Or Tancredo trying to look as if he cares working with a downtrodden Wal-Mart worker.

[salin]

3. McCain cleaning the bathrooms in a hotel room

is sorta hard to envision.

[AtomicKitten]

4. this stuff really makes me laugh

I don't know why really but I view politics as a dog and pony show, on good days a chess game, on not so good days Jerry Springer. People get so wrapped up in the day-to-day machinations of the campaigns, dissecting every tidbit of info that floats out into the atmosphere, getting emotionally involved as if they were watching Days of Our Lives. When I read stuff like this, I just started laughing because these stunts have as much credibility as kissing babies.

I would rather see monthly debates on specific issues. Not the carefully timed homogenized events that have evolved, but a real bare knuckles debate. That IMO would define the candidates like nothing else.

If only.