Andy Stern, SEIU President: White House Visitor

Who has been the most frequent visitor to the Obama White House, according to the records released by the administration?

The Obama administration on Friday released a partial roster of visitors in the first six months of President Obama’s term, a disclosure that shows business executives, labor leaders, lobbyists and a sprinkling of celebrities were cleared into the White House for meetings, events or tours.

Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, visited the Oval Office on March 25. Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, dined in the White House Mess Hall on Feb. 19. Oprah Winfrey arrived two days earlier for an appointment in the residence of the executive mansion.

Among the White House guests was a boldface-names list of chief executives, including Lloyd C. Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, Vikram Pandit of Citigroup Inc., Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, Rex W. Tillerson of the Exxon Mobil Corporation, David J. O’Reilly of the Chevron Corporation and Jeffrey R. Immelt of the General Electric Company The men, who met with Mr. Obama, his advisers or both, were among nearly 500 entries in logs from Jan. 20 to July 31.

The White House released the names late Friday in a disclosure that officials said was without precedent by previous administrations. The names on the White House Web site were in response to requests about specific people by watchdog groups or news organizations. By December, the White House intends to regularly release names of visitors in three-month increments.

The most frequent visitor included in the narrow sample was Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union and Mr. Obama’s top ally in the labor movement. Mr. Stern visited the White House 22 times, sometimes for health care or other public events in the East Room, other times for meetings with the president or aides like Rahm Emanuel, Peter R. Orszag or Ronald A. Klain.

The visit tally underscores the clout that S.E.I.U. and Mr. Stern enjoy in this White House, something that has generated consternation at times among business groups and envy among rival unions. By contrast, Richard L. Trumka, the new president of the AFL-CIO, visited seven times in the same period.

Although Oprah and George Clooney and Brad Pitt might be among the more interesting and glamorous visitors, Andy Stern, President of SEIU, stands out as the most significant, visiting 22 times!

Naked Emperor News has revealing video of Stern being interviewed by Bill Moyers, PBS, June 15, 2007.

Full transcript of the interview here.

ANDY STERN: And we are beginning. We have offices now in Australia and Switzerland and London and South America and Africa. We've been working with unions around the world. And what we're working towards is building a global organization because "Workers of the world, unite!" -- it's not just a slogan anymore. It's a way we're going to have to do our work.

That little slogan "Workers of the world, unite!" comes from The Communist Manifesto. Stern is a fan.

STERN: We're trying to use the power of persuasion. And if that doesn't work, we're going to use the persuasion of power because there are governments and there are opportunities to change laws that affect these companies. And I'm not naive. We're ready to strike.

This White House visitor sounds like a union thug.

From Chicago Public Radio, WBEZ, February 20, 2007:

NARRATOR: It started last summer with the so-called Big Box Ordinance. Labor wanted it. Business didn't.

STERN: We took names. We watched how they voted. We know where they live.

NARRATOR: In October, Andy Stern, the president of the Service Employees International Union:

STERN: There are opportunities in America to share better in the wealth, to rebalance the power. And unions and government are part of the solution.

We know that Obama is on the same page as Stern regarding spreading the wealth around.

Maybe that's why Stern has been such a frequent vistor to the Obama White House.

Maybe Obama likes Stern's views on the "power of persuasion" and the "persuasion of power."

Global citizen Obama and his team are probably rallied by Stern's "Workers of the world, unite!" philosophy.

I think beyond this meeting of the minds, there's the very practical use of the administration enlisting an army of union thugs to do its dirty work.

Thugs of the world, unite!

Obama's has used these methods of intimidation to control the masses and squelch dissent when challenged by Americans at town hall meetings.

He's been tight with SEIU for years.

Obama is a cheerleader for SEIU, the Service Employees International Union.

Obama says he owes his political career to the union.

His alliance with the union is how he built his political power.

Here's video of Obama addressing union members, January 15, 2008:

OBAMA: Everybody, there's not a presidential candidate, a gubernatorial candidate, a congressional candidate, who won't tell ya that they're pro-union when they're looking for their votes. They'll all say, 'Oh, we love, we love SEIU.'

But the question you gotta ask yourself is: Do they have it in their gut? Do they have a track record of standing alongside you on picket lines? Do they have a track record of going after the companies that aren't letting you organize? Do they have a track record of voting the right way, but also helping you organize to build more and more power?

Some of you know, I come from an organizing background so I know... I've been working with SEIU before I was elected to anything. When I was a community organizer, SEIU local 880 and myself, we organized people to make sure that health care workers had the basic right to organize. We organized voter registration drives. That's how we built political power on the south side of Chicago... And now the time has come for us to do it all across this country... And we are going to paint the nation purple with SEIU.

...

I would not be a United States senator had it not been for the support of your brothers and sisters in Illinois. They supported me early. They supported me often. I've got my purple windbreaker from my campaign in 2004.

...

And so, we've just got what? Four more days? Four more days, four more days of knocking on some doors, four more days of working the precinct, four more days of making sure all your coworkers are caucusing.

...

SEIU, I'm glad you're with me. Let's together change the country. SEIU, SEIU, SEIU, SEIU, SEIU, SEIU....

Obama and Andy Stern are obviously working together to change the country.

Karl Marx would be so proud.
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Here's an interesting segment of Stern's 2007 interview with Moyers. Stern speaks of his organization, "They Work for Us."

(Example of SEIU in action: "Senator Grassley: You Work for Us")

Apparently, Obama got the message that he needs to keep Stern, the visitor, happy.

BILL MOYERS: But when you split from the AFL-CIO you said you-- one reason you were doing so is because they were too concerned with politics and politics is not the only answer. Here you're saying politics is the answer.

ANDREW STERN: Well, I'd say I think sometimes people are a lap dog for a political party instead of a watchdog to their members and people's interest. And I think we were too tied as a labor movement to the Democratic Party. And the Democratic Party is very conflicted. You know, I think we needed a new independent kind of politics based on one simple thing, what was in the best interest of our members and all people who went to work in America.

And I think as we've held Democrats accountable-- we've created a new organization called They Work for Us. And they are running ads against Democrats who don't live up to the economic values the Democratic Party should have. And we're beginning to have some success.

BILL MOYERS: Tell me about the hang test.

ANDREW STERN: Well, what we've said is, you know, Democrats somehow think that presidential elections are like college bowl or Jeopardy. We nominate the person who gets all the answers right. And Republicans understand it's American Idol. You know, candidates are valued not just because they're smart but-- can they relate to average working Americans.

So, we had the hang test. We asked candidates to spend time with our members. And now we're asking the walk a day in my shoes and do a job of our members and see can they understand what's going on with average Americans? Can they really have a-- a sense of purpose and values and morality that really cares about people that work.

I guess Obama passed the hang test.

I wonder if he had to submit to an SEIU tattoo, or maybe one saying "Workers of the world, unite!"
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