Inside the White House

I just came back from the White House event where President Obama and Vice President Biden launched their Middle Class taskforce. Held in the East Room of the White House, the room was filled with 200 representatives of labor, higher education, business, minority, and non-profit organizations. I met John Sweeney, head of the AFL-CIO, who said this was the first time he had been in the White House in eight years. Then he corrected himself and said he had come for the Pope's visit, but he considered that invitation to have come from the Pope, not George W. Bush. That comment said it all in terms of how most of the people there felt about the previous administration. Vice President Biden got a big round of applause when he started his comments by saying "Welcome back to the White House". It has been a long time out of power for many of the organizations represented there.

President Obama started the proceedings by noting that GDP had fallen 3.8 percent in the last quarter of 2008, but that it still "can be an American moment" because of the innovative spirit of American workers. He praised the House for passing his economic stimulus package and said he expected to "strengthen it further in the Senate". He announced the creation of a Middle Class taskforce chaired by Vice President Biden. Comprised of various administration officials and Cabinet secretaries, its mission is to make recommendations to restore the American Dream for middle class families and those "who aspire to the middle class". It will look at access to higher education, restoring balance in the workplace, and improving economic security. Obama earned a big round of applause when he said "I do not view the labor movement as part of the problem; it is part of the solution."

The East Room is the ornate "public audience chamber" for White House events. It is the place where receptions and concerts are held, the site of presidential press conferences, and where Presidents Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy lay in state following their assassinations. From a place where Abigail Adams used to hang laundry, the room has come a long ways. It has beautiful yellow drapes, big chandeliers, and military personnel who serve as ushers. Amy Carter used to roller skate around the room, probably not something Sasha or Malia Obama should attempt. It was fun to look around at the oil paintings of American presidents such as John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. All of these pictures rest in prominent places on the first floor.

After the event ended, Obama and Biden surprised the crowd by coming down the aisles and shaking hands with many of the people. I had the good fortune to be near the aisle and was able to shake hands with President Obama. I told him my name was Darrell West and I worked at Brookings. I reminded him I had introduced him in 2006 when he had come to Brown University for a public lecture. Noting that this was a couple of weeks before he appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press" to announce he was seriously thinking about running for president, he joked "hey, that is where this all started".

Comments

[aramos]

Didn't that access come with a $450,000,000 price tag. I wonder if all the members agreed to such wasteful spending?

[dessertsfirst]

It is sooooo great that our new administration is opening up the White House... the people's house.... to the people for events and receptions and so forth. I am sooooo glad!

[Cannongrape]

This government needs to embrace the concept that start-ups and small operators are in a class distinct from the parasites on Wall Street.

I hope this task force takes a good look at the Small Business Administration. There are many struggling businesses out there, ready to immediately create jobs. Any business owner with a reasonable plan to create jobs should be able to get grants and loans to make it happen. We need to regrow the economy from the ground up.

Yes, we can!
YES WE CAN!!
(but we need a little help.)

[tonkamatthew]

Maybe we could send some of these wall street jobs, you know the one's where they did everything wrong that was possible, to some over seas workers who could work for alot less, maybe not even need bonus money. Or work at restoring some of the middle class jobs that have all ready been sent
overseas.

[fflambeau]

What is especially heartening about the Middle Class Task Force is that Jared Bernstein, Biden's chief economist, and a real progressive will be heading it up along with Biden. Bernstein has an impressive record of progressivism and excellent publications and understanding of working class issues. Unlike Geithner and Larry Summers, he is not an economist tied to the failed economic policies of the past decade.

[SparkyDash]

"Welcome back to the White House". Must have been great words for this audience to hear.

I'm glad you were witness to this event. When President Obama first mentioned priority of our middle class and the development of the Middle Class Task Force with VP Biden as its Chair, my heart was filled with emotion that surprised me. The reasons too involved and unnecessary to share here.

The move these two gentlemen made...the ease of walking down the room and greeting as many individuals as they could, I believe says a lot of their true nature. They are the real deal.

We all know we have a lot of work to do, but I also have a lot of hope. I don't mind contributing my part, and more if necessary, to help in some small way to bring about success.

[likeicare]

Mr. West --

It's curious how the MSM simply ignores the fact that the previous regime, and their power brokers in Congress, etc., were (and still are) at war with America's working class -- it's as if the fourth estate has adopted Dick Cheney's favorite phrase: "So what?"

It's cerainly no secret to anyone who tried to survive St. Ronnie's reign. And for those of us who are still managing to hold on by our fingernails to middle-class aspirations, an Obama administration is really our last chance.

The Republicans' obvious disgust with American workers and their agenda, begs the question, "Just how miserable does life have to get for the nation's workers, to be acceptable for the superscillious Republican-elites' demanding standards?"

What century would the GOP prefer we lived in -- the 19th? 18th? 14th????

When anal-retentive psychos are put in the WH (as has been the case for the last 8 yrs.), the result is what we're having to clean up right now.

[ldsb]

Lets hope they get to work fast.

[historymatters]

I was glad to see that Cabinet members will be part of this task force, gives me hope that it will do more than just talk and issue a couple of studies that no one ever does anything with. Skyrocketing health care, education, retirement, and housing costs are combining with stagnated wages to destroy the middle class. Add in outsourcing and offshoring jobs of almost every type, and it becomes impossible for the average American to plan for the long term or even feel secure in day to day life. Here's hoping that the Middle Class Task Force takes concrete action soon!