In 2008, most union bosses had to work hard to convince their union members to vote for Barack Hussein Obama. Despite the fact that the Machinists’ union boss Tom Buffenbarger considered Obama a “thespian” and “Janus, the two-faced Roman god of ancient times,” others union bosses like the SEIU’s Andy Stern were wholly on board the Obama bandwagon early on. Another of Obama’s major supporters was the AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka, who told union members that they were racists if they did not vote for Obama:
There’s not a single, good reason for any worker—especially any union member—to vote against Barack Obama…And, there’s only one really, really bad reason to vote against Barack Obama and that’s because he’s not white.
After Obama’s April 2008 loose-tongue slip about Americans who “cling to guns or religion,” union bosses had to work doubly hard to convince those union members who do, in fact, cling to their guns that Barack Obama wasn’t pro-gun control (despite his record).
Across the country, union bosses fanned out to spread the message: Barack Obama WON’T Take Away Your Gun…
Were union members misled on Obama’s stance on gun control?
Back in March, BigGovernment’s John Lott, Jr. observed:
The Obama administration has been a consistent opponent of gun ownership. It has enacted a ban on the importation of semiautomatic guns because: “The U.S. insisted that imports of the aging rifles could cause problems such as firearm accidents.” They have also tried imposing much more extensive reporting requirements on sales of long guns. However, possibly the biggest threat is Obama’s nomination of Andrew Traver to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. There is also the Obama administration’s push for the U.N.’s Arms Trade Treaty and itscontinual inaccurate statements about the source of Mexico’s crime guns. In addition, President Obama’s appointments to the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, are adamantly against any protection for individual ownership of guns. If one of the five justices in the majority of the Heller or McDonald cases were to die or retire, not only would further gains be prevented, but even those two precedents would be threatened.
Then, in April, the Washington Post reported* an ‘under-the-radar’ exchange that took place (presumably) at the White House:
On March 30, the 30th anniversary of the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, Jim Brady, who sustained a debilitating head wound in the attack, and his wife, Sarah, came to Capitol Hill to push for a ban on the controversial “large magazines.” Brady, for whom the law requiring background checks on handgun purchasers is named, then met with White House press secretary Jay Carney. During the meeting, President Obama dropped in and, according to Sarah Brady, brought up the issue of gun control, “to fill us in that it was very much on his agenda,” she said.
“I just want you to know that we are working on it,” Brady recalled the president telling them. “We have to go through a few processes, but under the radar.”
It’s pretty clear that the Barack Obama has an agenda that involves restricting Americans’ Second Amendment rights. However, what is not clear is whether union bosses will try to mislead their members again by trying to convince their members that Obama is anything but pro-gun control.
* – HT Ed Morrissey
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
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