(White House photo)
The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees—better known as AFSCME—
endorsed President Obama for reelection Tuesday:
“President Obama is the only choice for the 99%. We must put people back to work, make the 1 percent pay their fair share, and protect Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. President Obama will stand up for working families,” said AFSCME Pres. Gerald W. McEntee. “Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney have a prescription for the U.S. economy that was written by the same corporate interests that got us into this mess in the first place. We’ve all seen the depths the right-wing extremists governors will go to at the expense of working families, and we certainly don’t need that type of leadership in the White House. The GOP candidates just don’t get it, they are out of touch with reality. We believe that American voters are smarter than that and will say thanks but no thanks to their 1 percent agenda and work to re-elect President Obama to a second term.”
With the endorsement, the 1.6 million member union announced it would begin "an extensive conversation with members and non-members nationwide." In other words, this will be an active campaign, not an endorsement in name only.
SEIU endorsed Obama last month; one key difference is that in the 2008 primaries, AFSCME was a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton while SEIU had endorsed Obama. AFSCME did strongly support Obama in the 2008 general election, though.