Today in Denver, Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the face of the new class of populist Democratic congressional members, will appear with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Rep. Donna Edwards, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, and Prospect founding editor Bob Kuttner at an American Prospect/AFL-CIO panel on restoring economic mobility and security. The panel takes place as attention at the Democratic convention shifts squarely onto economic issues; the theme of day two is "Securing America's Future," and the day's events will conclude with a highly anticipated speech from Hillary Clinton, who is expected to hammer home the message of working-class solidarity that she developed late in her primary campaign and that many observers believe Barack Obama still has not matched.
Obama's choice of Joe Biden as his running mate was greeted as an indication that the nominee is serious about reaching out to Rust Belt white voters unsure of their place in the global economy. But it was also an admission that in reassuring working-class whites, Obama has serious work to do: Even among union members, he is experiencing polling shortfalls.
In an interview with Dana Goldstein, Brown, the father of an SEIU union organizer, spoke frankly about how Obama can bolster his rhetoric on jobs, trade, and even public transportation. Brown is worth listening to on these topics. As a progressive Democrat (albeit a white one), he won the very same socially conservative cities and counties that Obama will have to take in order to win Ohio. And as Ohio goes, so goes -- usually -- the nation.
Dana Goldstein: How should Obama be talking about the loss of manufacturing jobs?
Sherrod Brown: First of all, there's the failure of the last eight years to have any manufacturing policy. That includes energy, taxes, trade, job training, community college, all of that. There has been no federal effort on any of that. Second, I think Barack needs to be more specific on trade policy, on tax policy, on all of that. He's talked about how tax law incentivizes corporations to outsource jobs. He really has to talk more about job-killing trade agreements, what that has done to us. He needs to make the contrast with McCain on all of these things. [McCain has] gone to both Detroit and Youngstown and basically said, "These jobs are gone, get over it."
DG: Green jobs have become a bit of a holy grail in this election. Can they live up to the hype?
SB: I've got a bill on green manufacturing jobs that Barack is interested in. You know, putting real federal dollars into solar panels, wind turbines, and composites -- those are the kinds of technology that undoubtedly will lead to a significant number of manufacturing jobs. Germany did it with a federal, focused, targeted effort on solar energy. Germany created thousands of jobs.
DG: No matter who the next president is, he's going to have to balance the need to cut back carbon emissions with the very real desire to save American auto-manufacturing jobs. You have a press release up on your Web site right now lauding new jobs at a GM plant in Ohio. How should Democrats be negotiating this tension?
SB: You look at fuel cells, you look at federal miles per gallon. At the GM plant in Lordstown, they are manufacturing new compact cars that get 42 miles per gallon. Obviously it's also a commitment to public transportation, which creates new jobs. We need high-speed rail. People shouldn't fly from Pittsburgh to Cleveland.
DG: Polling of white union members shows a big problem for Democrats, with many older folks still reluctant to vote for Obama. Race is probably an underlying factor. In places like Ohio, how do you think the campaign should reach out?
SB: Looking out for your family trumps race. Looking out for your family trumps guns, or abortion, or gay marriage. This race is going to be won by Obama in cities like Springfield and Lima and Mansfield and Marion. Cities that are marginally Republican, lots of working-class voters, 10 to 15 percent minority voters, typically. Many of these cities have seen that if their kids get an education, they leave town. I won all those cities. I won the counties of all those cities. John Kerry lost almost all of them. They're considered culturally conservative communities, but they vote on trade and jobs and a message of opportunity for their kids to go to college. Those will trump people's reluctance to vote for Obama.
DG: Democrats are usually the target of the "elitist" jab, but with the "seven houses" attack, the Obama campaign is turning the table on John McCain. Will it stick?
SB: How you can call an African American in this country, a guy who grew up without much like Barack Obama, an elitist is beyond me. But they're just playing to everything. Biden will spend a lot of time in Ohio. He grew up in Ohio; Scranton, Pennsylvania is a city just like the ones I was talking about. Ultimately it's whose side are you on. The side of the rich, with more tax cuts? Those who want to send working-class kids off to die and don't want to spend on veterans' benefits when they come home? Do you want trade policies that don't help the middle class?
