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Robert Creamer has been a political organizer and strategist for almost four decades. He and his firm, the Strategic Consulting Group, work with many of the country’s most significant issue campaigns. He was one of the major architects and organizers of the successful campaign to defeat the privatization of Social Security. He is a consultant to the campaigns to end the war in Iraq, pass universal health care, change America’s budget priorities and enact comprehensive immigration reform. He has also worked on hundreds of electoral campaigns at the local, state and national level. Creamer is married to Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky from Illinois. Arianna Huffington calls his recent book, Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win, a master’s class in electoral politics.

Blog Entries by Robert Creamer

What the Iconic Labor Battle at Hugo Boss Means for Our Economic Future

1 Comments | Posted February 8, 2010 | 09:37 AM (EST)


It's the red carpet season in Hollywood. That means high-end apparel companies like Hugo Boss are promoting iconic celebrities to wear their clothing line at the Oscars and other award ceremonies.

But for the workers who make these suits in Cleveland, Ohio, it's a season of a different shade...

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Immigration Reform is Necessary for America's Economic Recovery

339 Comments | Posted February 2, 2010 | 09:20 AM (EST)


In his State of the Union speech, President Obama committed his Administration to pass comprehensive immigration reform. There are those who claim that this year immigration reform is a diversion from the priority task of fixing the economy -- and also politically impossible to achieve.

In fact, comprehensive...

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Why It's in the Interest of Democrats to Finish Comprehensive Health Care Reform

39 Comments | Posted January 26, 2010 | 08:50 AM (EST)


The frustration and disappointment is palpable among Democratic Members of Congress and staff. After nine months of difficult political labor, they were days from passing legislation that presidents have unsuccessfully sought for half a century.

Then came the political disaster in Massachusetts. For many Democrats, last week was like living...

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Passing Health Care with a Majority in the Senate Isn't "Jamming" It Through -- It's Democracy

185 Comments | Posted January 21, 2010 | 11:25 AM (EST)


A new 3-D version of Alice In Wonderland will soon be released into the nation's theaters. But you don't have to wait to enter a world where up is down and, as Alice says: "Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary-wise,...

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Lessons From the Massachusetts Defeat

323 Comments | Posted January 20, 2010 | 09:09 AM (EST)


The Massachusetts Senate race is a watershed event that has enormous implications for this political year. The media is intent on making it a referendum on President Obama and his health care reform plan. But that interpretation of the results is just flat wrong.

President Obama maintains a...

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Friends Don't Let Friends Not Vote Massachusetts' Senate Election

137 Comments | Posted January 17, 2010 | 10:35 PM (EST)


Here's the bottom line: an enormous amount is at stake in Tuesday's election in Massachusetts to fill Senator Ted Kennedy's seat. So much is at stake that every Democrat -- and every independent who wants fundamental change in Washington -- has to vote, no matter how hard it is...

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It Is Our Moral Responsibility to Help Haiti -- And it's In America's Interest

49 Comments | Posted January 13, 2010 | 02:58 PM (EST)


For those of us who have a special place in our hearts for the long-suffering people of Haiti, the horrific pictures and tragic news reports of the earthquake's devastation seem as though they were lifted directly from the Book of Job.

The people of Haiti have borne...

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Tax Bank Bonuses and Capital Gains of Wealthy to Pay for Jobs Program

40 Comments | Posted January 11, 2010 | 09:55 AM (EST)


This column is about pornography. Yesterday's New York Times ran a front page story headlined: "For Top Bonuses on Wall Street, 7 Figures or 8." The story was chocked full of obscenity:

"Bank executives are grappling with the question that exasperates, even infuriates, many recession-weary Americans: Just how...

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Obama's Secret Weapon: OFA

221 Comments | Posted January 5, 2010 | 10:14 AM (EST)


In a season when the political punditry stampeded its way into prognostications of Democratic political disaster this fall, it is well to remember that Democrats -- and the Obama political operation -- have a weapon, the importance of which Washington types don't fully understand: Organizing for America (OFA).

There is...

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Reducing America's Economic Polarization Will Lead to Political Comity

200 Comments | Posted January 4, 2010 | 09:38 AM (EST)


We frequently hear pundits pontificating about the rising level of political polarization in Congress.

Often the blame is ascribed to plummeting levels of civility among Members. In fact, ten years ago the House actually conducted several "civility retreats" aimed at fostering a more civil atmosphere inside the...

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What I Learned When I Spent Five Months at the Federal Prison Camp at Terre Haute

102 Comments | Posted December 31, 2009 | 08:14 AM (EST)


Thirteen years ago, when I directed Illinois' largest public interest organization, I let my enthusiasm for its progressive goals overwhelm my good judgment. I floated checks between the organization's accounts to keep the organization's programs alive. No banks lost any money and I didn't personally benefit. But my actions...

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Democrats Do Not Need to Become More "Moderate" to Win in 2010 - Four Rules for Victory in November

358 Comments | Posted December 28, 2009 | 09:35 AM (EST)


There is little doubt that over the last several months President Obama's poll numbers -- and those of Democrats generally -- have taken a swing for the worse. The president's job approval numbers have drifted below 50 percent. The popularity of some of his signature initiatives has dropped. Last...

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What Next in the Battle for Health Care Reform?

265 Comments | Posted December 23, 2009 | 01:22 PM (EST)


The expected Christmas Eve Senate vote to pass a health care reform bill will be a remarkable, historic event. Given the power of the economic forces that have been hell-bent on stopping health care reform dead in its tracks, it is extraordinary that Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid could cobble...

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Lieberman Betrayal Illustrates Why Senate Filibuster Rules Must Change

348 Comments | Posted December 16, 2009 | 10:40 AM (EST)


Senator Joe Lieberman's successful maneuver to eliminate any form of public option from the Senate health reform bill makes one thing perfectly clear: to pass the most important elements of the progressive agenda, the Senate must change its filibuster rules.

The current 60-vote requirement to cut off debate empowers a...

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Pass Financial Regulatory Reform - Then Break Up the Big Wall Street Banks

30 Comments | Posted December 15, 2009 | 09:06 AM (EST)


Last Friday, the House passed critical regulatory reform legislation aimed at preventing the recurrence of the kind of financial meltdown that devastated our economy at the end of the Bush administration.

The lobbyists from Wall Street worked hand-in-glove with the Republicans, and a few Democrats, to try...

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America Needs a Jobs Bill, and the Federal Deficit Shouldn't Stand in the Way

186 Comments | Posted December 8, 2009 | 11:04 AM (EST)


Last month's drop in the unemployment rate and continued reduction of job losses is certainly good news. It indicates that the U.S. economy may have finally stopped shedding jobs. But without additional government action there is little likelihood that the economy will return to anything resembling full employment in the...

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Obama, Progressives and Afghanistan

70 Comments | Posted December 3, 2009 | 11:26 AM (EST)


Like many Progressives, I disagreed with President Obama's decision to increase the number of American troops deployed to Afghanistan. But Progressives must not lose sight of the fact, that though we may disagree with this particular decision, President Obama shares a progressive vision of American foreign policy -- including...

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Giving Thanks For Laughter, Wonder And The Life Of Michael McLaughlin

10 Comments | Posted November 25, 2009 | 03:42 PM (EST)


Sometimes at Thanksgiving it's not so obvious what goes on the "I-am-thankful-for" list. For me, this year there was no question. This year I am thankful for the life of my late son-in-law Michael McLaughlin. Michael had an enormous impact on everyone whose lives he touched. He left us...

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Crashing the Gates of the Status Quo

110 Comments | Posted November 19, 2009 | 10:34 AM (EST)


Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's announcement that he will send health insurance reform to the floor of the Senate this week signals that the long march to change America, that began with Barack Obama's announcement for president three years ago, has arrived at the gates of what is most certainly...

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10 Reasons Why Democrats Who Opposed the Health Care Bill Made a Political Mistake

205 Comments | Posted November 13, 2009 | 09:11 AM (EST)


Even if you completely ignore how critical it is to reform the broken American health care system, most of the 39 Democrats who voted against health care reform in the House last week made a political mistake. Here's why:

1). The most basic reason is that the major...

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