Both candidates proved they’re equally smart on health care reforms, but under either Democrat, Big Pharma and insurance companies may be slightly restrained but will remain quite profitably in-charge. It almost seemed that the candidates were running down the clock on healthcare. Barely mentioning education, college costs were noted. No one spoke of growing inequities in k-12 schools, racial RE-segregation, or even No Child Left Behind.

While blaming the Bush Administration for the declining economy, greedy corporate globalization wasn’t questioned even as it has wrecked much of Mexico’s economy and communities across the U.S. Factories closing, three million jobs have disappeared in the last decade — which obviously includes the Clinton Administration era. So-called “free trade” agreements, such as NAFTA — passed while Hillary Clinton got some of her experience as First Lady, and pending trade deals with South Korea and Peru — weren’t worthy of discussion.

Problems of particular concern to rural or urban America weren’t on the agenda, except for health care. Of course, it’s risky for Barack Obama to focus on inner cities. If he talked “chocolate cities” (with some vanilla poor) being devastated by economic neglect, a failed “war on drugs,” usually substandard schools, a criminal justice system on steroids and police brutality . . . well, we might remember that Obama is a Black man in ways beyond the most shallow marketing strategy. In fact, race only came up when discussing immigration. Obama did challenge the scapegoating of Latino immigrants head-on, one of the few inspiring moments that showed Obama’ passion — the community organizer — in contrast to Clinton’s cool policy-wonk.

Bloggers and media misogynists have attacked Clinton personally but, in the debate, gender was just a history-making marker of alleged progress. Obama’s candidacy is supposed to convince us we’re in a post-race age. Clinton remarked on gender injustice in OTHER, undeveloped, no-doubt far less evolved countries that ours.

Both candidates started the night lauding John Edwards, but neither took up his banner of fighting poverty. Housing foreclosures got a nod; the housing crisis for the working poor and rising homelessness were ignored. Katrina became just a tool of Bush-bashing, but, neither pledged to really DO anything. Neither Obama or Clinton issued the strong challenges to corporate power at the heart of Edwards’ campaign. Perhaps, Obama got the warning loud and clear from Edwards’ fate. Clinton’s 15 years as a corporate lawyer makes where she stand clear — no matter how many times she cites her connection to the Children’s Defense Fund.

Iraq momentarily heated up the discussion with Obama’s reminder he opposed the invasion and Clinton triangulating on her vote to give Bush the authorization to use military force. Avoiding details, both spoke of “careful withdrawal.” Neither explained how their foreign policy would be much different than Bush’s, except for Clinton’s (quote) “coercive diplomacy” and Obama emphasizing that “the threat of terrorism is real.” Neither challenged the US invasion as immoral or illegal. Clinton almost seemed to brag about how “we bombed Iraq for several days in 1998 to get inspectors in.” Obama claimed he’s worked on nuclear proliferation — but NOT on America’s biggest nuclear arsenal on Earth. Both say they will be bringing troops home early in their first term, but both hedged too. It is undeniable now that the only anti-war candidate is Libertarian Ron Paul, who was far more forceful about leaving Iraq in the Republican debate.

Red-button “cultural war” issues were off the table. But, many crucial issues got no hearing at all. Neither Obama or Clinton mentioned the all-out assault on our civil liberties, the shredding of our Constitution or the vast expansion of Presidential power. As a result the Bush-bashing rang hollow and stank of hypocritical opportunism. No one asked or talked about global warming and peak oil — except for Obama mentioning “our planet in peril” and “new jobs with alternative energy.” One would think humanity’s survival would be important enough to be part of the debate. It wasn’t.

Obama and Clinton were collaborators not competitors with one another, and with the core elements of things as they are. It appears that the only real choice we have is whether we want a token for race or gender in the White House. If we want REAL change, we’re going to have to count on ourselves and build much stronger activist movements. That’s the only way, we’ve ever gotten change no matter who’s in the White House.

NWA pilots and flight attendants, with national union leaders and two elected officials, rallied with a Macy’s Thanksgiving parade-style giant inflated rat at the Minnesota State Capitol yesterday to expose what’s become the latest trend in what should be seen as legalized corporate theft.

As Pat Friend, president of the Association of Flight Attendants told the couple of hundred workers, ‘Airline executives used the shelter of bankruptcy to extract further concessions from airline employees in an unparalleled show of unscrupulousness and greed. our airlines were led into the no-man’s land of bankruptcy where they were able to cast aside the laws that protect our contracts and further decimate good jobs in our industry. Complicit federal regulators and the U.S. bankruptcy courts closed their eyes to the injustices wrought by the wealthy and powerful corporate executives.”

Flight attendants and pilots will lose 40% to 50% of their pay. imagine what losing half your pay would do to your budget.

For the flight attendants, this means making a salary of $15,000 to $30,000. Salaries for pilots vary considerably, depending on years of experience, what size plane they fly and other factors, but, Internet research shows pay from $60,000 for small-plane pilots to $240,000 for the most experienced large plane pilots. While that might sound like some pilots can absorb the cuts, Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) president John Prader told the rally that there are pilots who’ve sold their homes and yanked their kids out of college. They will be flying longer hours, with fewer sick days and higher health care costs. ditto for flight attendants. their pensions will also be cut.

The $400 million cuts to that those who do the actual work of flying and services of NWA will be given to top executives in ‘bonuses”, stock and pensions. Minnesota State Senator, Jim Carlson ran down the mind-boggling numbers:

CEO Doug Steenland gets annual pay of $1.8M, a bonus of $26.5M, stock worth $5.8m and after 15 ½ years with NWA is guaranteed $947,417 in an annual pension. Outgoing chair Gary Wilson got $2M as he left the company, along selling millions in his stock options. Other executives made out well with their pensions; EVP Information,Phillip Haan gets $555,258 (13.8years of service); EVP Marketing, Tim Griffin gets $559-457 (11.6 years of service); EVP Operations, Andrew Roberts gets $413,968 (7.4 years of service).

Other airlines have declaring bankruptcy since 2002 have pulled off similar scams, citing the post-9/11 downturn. Remember the roughly $5 billion in taxpayers money the airlines got within weeks of the attacks? I wonder how much of that went into executive pockets.

NWA mechanics got hit with multiple pay cuts and lay-offs first, as their jobs were shipped off to China. (see the May 31, 2004 Washington Post article on outsourcing mechanics’ jobs)

There were plenty of workers who had little sympathy for the airline mechanics, in effect, saying,’They make $25 or 435 an hour — a lot more than I do! Why should I stand with them?” Probably many of those same folks won’t feel much empathy for the pilots and flight attendants either. This is just the latest example of corporate divide and conquer. Besides relocating plants or services to Third World countries with sweatshop wages, no benefits and unions made illegal, hiring undocumented workers or importing H1 visa workers, now, corporations can use bankruptcy as a way to discard labor contracts. Every union representative I asked agreed that airlines ‘declaring bankruptcy’ was just a way to rip-off the workers. The Executives’ bonuses confirms that.

It’s overdue for the 75% of American workers making $50,000 or less (often a hell of a lot less!), to stop identifying with folks like Donald Trump, who makes $1M per show for The Apprentice with a net worth of $1.9 billion — especially since ‘You’re fired!’ are the words workers most fear.

Walking the mechanics’ picket line a couple of years ago, I remember thinking that the flight attendants and pilots would certainly be next on the chopping block. Airline industry unions’ failure to to unify their struggles and go out on strike together means they got picked off by the executives. This should be a sobering lesson for all workers who want a fighting chance against these corporate rats. An injury to one really is an injury to all.

More information on airline industry unions.

Latest statistics on Americans’ wages.