Senator Obama Addresses CWA Convention

Editor's Note: Appearing via satellite from the campaign trail in Albuquerque, N.M., Sen. Barack Obama was met with wild cheers from the 2,500 delegates, alternates and guests at CWA's 70th annual convention in Las Vegas. Earlier Monday, delegates passed a resolution enthusiastically endorsing Obama for U.S. president and pledging to work tirelessly to elect him. As his speech ended and delegates clapped and chanted "Yes We Can!" CWA President Larry Cohen told him that for the 134 days between now and Nov. 4, 2008, "we will be working as hard as you are. Be well and God Speed." Obama's comments follow:

Hello, everybody.  I'm sorry I can't join you this week in Las Vegas, but thanks for letting me say a few words to you.  Before I begin, I want to recognize my friend Larry Cohen, and thank him for his leadership and commitment to America's workers. I also want to acknowledge Jeff Rechenbach and Barbara Easterling. Happy retirement, Barbara. And I want to thank you all for your support, and tell you how much I appreciate the commitment you're making at your convention to help us win in November.

The stakes could not be higher. Families across this country are feeling like the American dream is slipping further and further out of reach. Folks are working harder for less. The cost of everything from a tank of gas to a bag of groceries, from health care to college tuition, is going up and up and up. It's getting harder to save and harder to retire.

But it's not an accident that hardworking families are struggling so much. It's because, for eight long years, we've had a White House that's been hostile to workers and a Washington that's been beholden to the special interests. It's not just that this administration hasn't been fighting for you -- they've actually tried to stop you from fighting for yourselves. This is the most anti-labor administration in our memory. They don't believe in unions. They don't believe in organizing. They've packed the labor relations board with their corporate buddies.

And that is why we cannot afford to let John McCain serve out George Bush's third term. Now let me be clear, Senator McCain can legitimately tout moments of independence from his party in the past – but such independence has not been the hallmark of his presidential campaign.

It's not change when John McCain stands with George Bush 95 percent of the time, as he did in the Senate last year.

It's not change when he sides with George Bush and the business lobby to say "no" to workers' rights, "no" to organizing, and "no" to the Employee Free Choice Act.

It's not change when he offers four more years of Bush economic policies that have failed to create jobs at a living wage, or insure our workers, or help Americans afford the skyrocketing cost of college – policies that have only succeeded in lowering the real incomes of the average American family, widening the gap between Wall Street and Main Street, and leaving our children with a mountain of debt. That isn't change.

Change is building an economy that rewards not just wealth, but the work and workers who create it – it's understanding that the struggles facing working families can't be solved by spending billions of dollars on more tax breaks for big corporations and wealthy CEOs. 

Change is a universal health care plan like the one I've proposed; a plan that guarantees insurance to every American who wants it; brings down premiums for every family who needs it; cuts costs for business and their workers by picking up the tab for some of the most expensive illnesses and conditions; and that stops insurance companies from discriminating and denying coverage to those who need it most.

Change is having a president who's been an organizer and knows what it's like to walk with you on that picket line; and who lets unions do what they do best and organize our workers. Now, I know you heard from Pete Catucci earlier today. And I want to thank him for his extraordinary courage and commitment – not just on behalf of stem cell research, but on behalf of what he calls the stem cell research of the American labor movement – the Employee Free Choice Act. So for Pete, for the CWA, and for all American workers, it's time to finally make the Employee Free Choice Act the law of the land.

That's what change is.  And that's the choice in this election.

But it's not going to be easy, CWA. And that's why I need your help. I know you're making a commitment to mobilizing and organizing in this campaign like you've never done before. And I need you to keep standing with me for these next five months; and if you do – if you keep marching with me and knocking on those doors, and making those phone calls, and registering voters, and talking to your friends and co-workers and neighbors; and if you vote for me, then I promise you this: we will win the general election and then – you and I – together are going to change America and change this world. Thank you.