Upbeat Lieberman Rallies Convention Crowd

As his speech, once again, was interrupted by a standing ovation from 2,500 cheering, chanting, stomping supporters, Sen. Joe Lieberman glanced at CWA President Morton Bahr and grinned.

“Morty, you were right,” the vice presidential nominee said with characteristic delight. “This was a great place to make my first big speech.”

Until CWA’s convention in Anaheim, Lieberman had spent three weeks campaigning alongside Vice President Al Gore. The convention was his first major appearance alone since Gore selected him as his running mate.

His speech was colorful but specific, laying out plans to invest in worker training programs, make a large share of college and trade school costs tax-deductible, and help seniors pay for prescription drugs.

“We want to use America’s hard-earned surpluses to continue to pay down the debt, to keep interest rates low,” Lieberman said. “We want to invest in those things that make us prosperous, like research and development, education and health care. We want to give whatever is left over back to the people who need it — to middle-class families to help them care for their children, and for their parents.”

The tax cut proposed by George W. Bush would benefit the wealthy at the expense of poor and working Americans, he said, adding that combining the cut with the plan to privatize part of Social Security “leaves no money to invest in anything else.”

“It’s just this simple,” Lieberman said with a smile. “We as a nation can’t afford to make Barney Rubble investments in a George Jetson world.”

He said America must invest in training for high-technology jobs, noting that some 200,000 jobs aren’t filled currently because there aren’t enough skilled workers.

“Al Gore and I are proposing to invest more than $2 billion to expand worker training for dislocated workers, to support training in local communities and make lifelong learning more affordable,” he said. “And listen to this: Under our tax-cut proposal, if you want to go to college or enter a job-training program, we will make the first $10,000 tax deductible.”

“Our opponents don’t have any new plans for lifelong learning,” Lieberman said, “because they won’t have any money left to pay for them after they spend it all on that humongous tax cut plan.”

He also spoke of investing the surplus to save and strengthen Social Security and to improve Medicare to help seniors pay for prescriptions. The plan would pay for 50 percent of drug costs up to $5,000 a year, he said, noting that more than 90 percent of seniors don’t exceed that amount.

However, the plan ensures seniors with higher drug costs will never have to pay more than $4,000 out-of-pocket a year. “Under our plan, no senior will ever be forced to go bankrupt or lose their homes to pay for prescription drugs,” Lieberman said.

The Bush campaign’s approach has been to criticize the Gore-Lieberman plan without putting forth its own specifics, he said. “The sad fact is, our opponents are spending more money on prescription drug political advertising than they have committed to spend on their prescription drug plan.”

Lieberman also pledged his and Gore’s continued, unwavering support for the labor movement, and had high praise for CWA’s pioneering role in fighting for workers’ rights in the information age.

“Hundreds of thousands of men and women in this industry are lucky enough to have CWA walking by their side and fighting for better contracts,” he said. “The New Economy needs collective bargaining just as much as the old economy did.”

Reminding the cheering crowd that Gore urged President Clinton to veto every piece of anti-worker legislation that crossed his desk, he said, “You don’t have to shortchange working families to grow this economy.”

“We say to America today: Work with us and we can solve our problems together. Walk with us and we can create a better future. Stand with us and we will fight for you and your family. Believe in us and we will make the American dream come true for every American, not just for a privileged few.”