Commentary
We are now witnessing the election year “October surprise?” that is sure to affect the success of the Harris-Walz ticket, as dockworkers from Maine to Texas out on strike, a move that is sure to seriously affect the supply chain for a wide-variety of goods.
Already guilty of fostering policies that have increased prices at the pump, in supermarkets and for services, a long strike going into Election Day will now be on the minds of voters in the next 30 days.
It’s hard to imagine Vice President Harris playing a productive role in settling the strike. While she participated in the drafting of executive orders beneficial to unions in 2022, much to the dismay of union leaders, she has been silent on support of unions.
That is until Wednesday, when she claimed, “This strike is about fairness.” There’s that word again – fairness – as she said the longshoremen “deserve a fair share of the record profits.”
“She now owns, whether fairly or unfairly, all of the economic fallout of this strike. All of the rising prices, all of the empty store shelves, all of the layoffs due to supply chain disruptions; she owns it all.” – Ward Clark, Red State
A Not So ‘October Surprise’
Special Counsel Jack Smith, determined to affect the coming election of former President Trump, filed a 165-page brief under seal last week, designed to help Judge Tanya A. Chutkan decide how much of the indictment can survive the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling granting Trump immunity against prosecution for official acts while in office.
Smith, who has spent nearly two years trying to convict Trump of responsibility for the January 6 riot on the Capitol, refused to give up his witch hunt even after the Supreme Court decision on immunity.
Of course, Harris and Walz continue to bring up Trump’s effort to change the 2020 election outcome, as evidenced by Walz’s debate remarks Tuesday night. J. D. Vance refused to bite, stating that he was focused on the future, not 2021. As expected, the “ladies” of The View on ABC all referred to Vance as an election denier.
The VP Debate
Clearly, J.D. Vance’s win over Tim Walz was not a surprise.
Back to Our Pro-Union President
At a meeting of union workers and leaders in the White House in September 2021, President Biden said, “I intend to be the most pro-union president leading the most pro-union administration in American history.”
Looking back six months, Eyal Press wrote a piece for the New Yorker, “Biden is the Most Pro-Labor President Since F.D.R. Will it matter in November?”
I wonder, was Press prescient? He couldn’t have known in April that the dockworkers would strike so close to the election when he asked “Will it matter in November,” but clearly it will.
Not a timely move for the most pro-union president in history. He’s urging both sides to resolve their differences “fairly and quickly.” Where was the fairness when he shut non-union workers out of federal jobs?
Those 2022 executive orders focused on improving conditions for work on federal projects, including the use of project labor agreements for federal construction projects, which requires hiring of unionized workers.
The Biden administration also created new rules around pay equity for federal workers. He even pushed pension funds to invest only in companies that adhere to high labor standards. Those actions should concern taxpaying Americans who choose not to be member of a union.
While union leaders, the majority of union workers are said to favor the candidacy of former President Trump.
That same year, Biden became ther first president to walk a picket line. Will his union pandering pay off with support for Harris-Walz?
May God continue to bless the United States of America.
