SEN. BARACK OBAMA
WHICH CANDIDATE DO YOU THINK CAN TRANSFORM THE COUNTRY?

Sen. Obama’s first order of business before the AFT executive council was to thank the union. The Illinois Federation of Teachers, after all, was Obama’s first endorsement in his bid for the U.S. Senate in 2004.

“This was at a time when no one could pronounce my name,” he said.

Noting that AFT members work primarily in the “helping professions and oftentimes are underpaid and under appreciated,” Obama talked about the importance of union representation. “There’s no reason why we should not allow workers in this country to come together, join a union, collectively bargain, give them a little bit of leverage so that they can have a decent life for themselves,” Obama said.

As president, Obama’s chief goals would include enacting universal healthcare because the existing system is “broken and bankrupting families”; overhauling education policy because the system “is still leaving too many children behind and is under-resourced”; and addressing energy policy because today’s policy “leads us to send $800 million a day to some of the most hostile nations on earth.”

Obama reiterated that he was opposed to the war from the outset “because this was one that was ideologically driven and it was going to cost us billions of dollars, thousands of lives and was going to further inflame the Arab world and distract us from hunting down the genuine enemies that we have.”

If elected, and the war is still going on, Obama said he would begin a phased redeployment. “I would say to the Iraqis there is no military solution for the problems that you’re facing. I would convene an intensive political roundtable with all parties involved. I would indicate we are not going to be here but we are willing to be partners with you in terms of brokering some peace. I would also talk directly to the Iranians and the Syrians and other players in the region” about working together to stabilize the country.

“This country is at a crossroads right now internationally and domestically,” Obama said. “We’ve got an economy that is doing very well for some but is leaving huge swaths of the country living paycheck to paycheck.”

“The question for this union,” he said, is who do “you think has the best opportunity—not just to win an election but to transform the country? I think I can inspire this country to reimagine itself and become more generous and more caring and more responsible.”