Friday, February 6, 2009

Unions, other liberals rallying around Solis

Just as I was expecting, labor unions, women's groups, and Hispanic organizations are starting to rally around Hilda Solis's nomination to be Secretary of Labor. They are starting to put pressure on Republicans.

Good for them. Republicans are using her husband's tax problems to stall her nomination. That's fine, they should take time to find out what they need. But not too much time. The longer her nomination stalls, the more of a symbol Hilda Solis becomes.

What Republicans really, really don't want to admit is that they are terrified of her. They are scared of her because they are afraid that she'll rally the troops. They're worried that she will give hope to the marginalized and oppressed, and they will fight that much harder to join unions.

Of course, they have every reason to be scared, because that is exactly what she intends to do.

Fear is making the Republicans irrational. They have not yet come to terms with the fact that there are going to be some battles that they are going to lose, because there are some very important battles that they have already lost.

Let it go, guys. I don't know why the Republicans in Congress aren't listening to me on this one. This should be obvious. A bunch of white guys in suits take on a Hispanic woman, guess which one looks like the underdog? GOP senators are wasting political capital on this, and unions et al. are building up theirs. Never underestimate the stupidity of the GOP when it comes to dealing with the oppressed who have suddenly become powerful.

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