Obama supporters at Las Vegas rally chant "Sí se puede!"

[jefferson_dem]

DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN: Obama rocks Vegas faithful

Candidate charms voters at union hall, school gym

By MOLLY BALL
REVIEW-JOURNAL



From the back of the Culinary union hall on Friday, all that could be seen were hundreds of upraised hands -- black, brown and white -- clapping to the chant "Sí se puede."

They were clapping along with Geoconda Arguello Kline, an immigrant from Nicaragua who came to Las Vegas for a low-skilled job in a hotel. She learned English. She saved enough to buy a home for the family she was raising. She took advantage of job training programs to move up in her work, and she became active with the union.

Now Kline, "Geo" to the union's members, is president of Culinary Local 226, the 60,000-person union of hotel, restaurant and laundry workers that includes most non-gaming workers on the Strip. She symbolizes what the union calls the "Las Vegas dream."

This is a union whose members, more than 300 in the stuffy, hot, sour-smelling hall downtown, have been trained to make some serious noise on command, and that is what they did when the presidential candidate whom their leaders decided to support, Democrat Barack Obama, took the stage to accept the endorsement.

"Every time I come here I feel good, because I am not only among friends, I am also among the best of the labor movement in this country, right here in this room," the Illinois senator said.

The union members' discipline and political organization are legendary in Nevada. But the decision to go with Obama -- made late in the game Wednesday, after the contests in Iowa and New Hampshire had been decided -- poses by far their biggest challenge yet.

The endorsement has split the union from its biggest allies, including most of the big Democratic names in the state. Union leaders say they never considered themselves part of the party establishment anyway, and they relish what might be an underdog role. But there's no question that the coming days, until Nevada holds presidential caucuses a week from today, will create serious fractures.

With Obama's rival for the Democratic nomination, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, in Las Vegas on Thursday evening and again this morning, and Obama pledging to spend almost all of the next week in the state starting Sunday, it stands to be a battle of inches in which nothing will be taken for granted.

And so Obama stood before a Culinary crowd that was already wearing red T-shirts with his name printed on them, telling them how he would "make the Las Vegas dream the American dream."

<SNIP>

http://www.lvrj.com/news/13729202.html

[jgraz]

1. Please don't let this be a cynical ploy on his part

If Obama adopts the language of labor, he needs to follow through on the ideals of labor. This not only means fighting for union workers, it means fighting for ALL working people, whether or not they belong to a union.

His insistence on giving corporate greedheads a "seat at the table" is not exactly the kind of pro-worker stance I'd expect from Senator "Sí Se Puede".

[origin1286]

4. I hate posts like yours

Corporate greedheads, as repulsive as they are, deserve a seat at the table because they are Americans. So do the working class. So do the poor, homeless, and every other American.

You can still take a hardline stance on them even if they're "at the table."

All this talk about totally shutting people out is bull shit. And most of you people who say this crap also call for unity. Every American from every walk and way of life (yes, including republicans) deserves a seat at the table.

To do anything else runs totally contrary to what we should want in a President.

[mopinko]

7. you can't get concessions out of people who are not at the table.

this is why i am on the barack train. cuz he is the guy who can bring everyone to the table, and work with everyone at the table, and get a fair deal for everyone at the table.

[jgraz]

14. Corporations are not "people", and thus cannot be "Americans"

The job of a true democracy is to limit corporate power.

If the CEO of Pfizer wants a seat at the table, fine. As long as he has to wait in line for his seat along with every other American.

[annie1]

8. This is a funny line...

"He speaks of wholesale upheaval, but also always emphasizes working together and finding ways for opposing parties to come to agreement, as if proposing a revolution that somehow wouldn't upset anyone."

[polichick]

2. Obama's NH speech was so inspiring that I added...

...his message to my GOTV boutique ~ I sure do hope he means it! (My guess is he does.)
<><>

These bumper stickers, t-shirts & more at: http://www.cafepress.com/powerboutique GET OUT THE VOTE!

[Muddy Waters Guitar]

3. Well, so much for the "Latinos wouldn't support Obama" meme

I've been hearing much the same thing, for Edwards as well as for Obama.

[no name no slogan]

6. You don't have to be latino to chant in Spanish

but it helps

[Muddy Waters Guitar]

9. True

though apparently many of the supporters were Latino. Though you're right, "si se puede" just has a great ring to it no matter what one's background (or linguistic preferences for that matter).

[no name no slogan]

11. IIRC the SIEU has been using that slogan for awhile

I believe Chavez used that slogan for organizing fruitworkers in CA.

It's been around for awhile, because this isn't the first time I've heard it used.

[Cha]

12. That's right..I had a tee shirt in the late

'70's that said Si Se Puede(black on red) in California..it's a totally righteous slogan for sights set on the seemingly impossible..but NO es Impossible!

[no name no slogan]

13. Sweet.... I thought I'd seen that before

I imagine that's where the SEIU got if from-- and since Obama's been getting SEIU local endorsements, that makes sense. :thumbsup:

I've always liked the SEIU. I wish my local would affiliate with them, but they'll just continue down the same lame-ass path they've always continued down (they're so conservative they make the AFL-CIO look like bomb-throwing radicals-- but what do you expect from a bunch of technicians and lower/middle manager types anyway?)

[ClayZ]

5. WoooHooo! "Sí se puede"

K and R

[Cha]

10. SI SE PUEDE!

I'm going to order a Si Se Puede button and wear it at work cause I can't be political but I'll know what I'm talkin' about and so will my friends:)

I love that Obama got the Culinary Union Endorsement..who hasn't cooked?!

[Flabbergasted]

15. Cool idea! n t

[Cha]

20. :)

[Flabbergasted]

21. I was about to put an Obama print on the front door of the cafe yesterday

but the printer isn't working right.

[Cha]

22. You have a cafe in

Portland, O? Do you think it would make anyone not come in because of said "print"? Or is Portland above all that crap?

[Flabbergasted]

23. I doubt it, and actually I wouldn't care.

The sad thing is so few people are having discussions about the political race. I hope to inspire more debate.

[Cha]

25. Having mad discussions about the race

in our co-op here in New York and hillary's losing.

[Flabbergasted]

26. Cool....

The other day a couple woman came in supporting Clinton. The talking points were:

1.) The kids are easily manipulated and of course would support Obama.

2.) We need someone with experience to turn this country around.

The final comment was...

"I wish Madeline Albright was running. She is brilliant."

That was one of the first open political discussions people have had here in months.
I wish there was much more discussion and debate.

[Cha]

27. ONe woman who is married

to a Obama supporter had this to say.."But, on experience, how do you go against 35 years experience with only two years?" I told her Obama had been working in the trenches in Illinois' state senate for years, not to mention president of Harvard Law Review..and I had to rush off because the sink was going to overfloat in the back. Her husband came back and said "I have to listen to this stuff all the time..you can just run off:)

[OzarkDem]

16. Poor suckers, I feel sorry for them

backing a guy who, if elected, won't spend five minutes working on the issues that are important to them.

If he won't take the time to talk issues, why would they believe he will act on their behalf?

[Didereaux]

17. I remind again 'Si se Puede' is OWNED by the UFW...

After AeroMexico, a Mexican airline, had filed a trademark application for "Sí se puede" with the US Trademark Office, lawyers for the United Farm Workers defended the phrase as the intellectual property of the UFW. After litigation, AeroMexico agreed not to use the phrase and abandoned its trademark application.<1>


1.Arturo S. Rodriguez (1998-03-31). Statement from Arturo S. Rodriguez, President, United Farm Workers of America, Celebrating Cesar Chavez's Birthday 3/31/98-La Paz, Keene, Cal

----------------------------------------------------

Yes, all you little privates and corporals in the Kiddy Army, the phase is coopyrighted, no it does not matter that others have used it in the past. If Obama the great legal mind actually respected the laws of this country and the tenets of his profession he would co the courteous thing and ask permission of the UFW for it's use. But maybe you do reflect him more closely than some of us had HOPED for.

[Blue-Jay]

18. You can't "own" a sentence.

[Didereaux]

19. don't give up the janitors job at Starbucks and go into law.

[Blue-Jay]

24. Innovative!

That's a either a new take on the "mom's basement" gambit or a slur on janitors.

Well done!