Interviewer's question to SEIU head Andy Stern reveals who is really in charge: "How have you decided to pass [health] reform?"

Earlier today, The Cornell Daily Sun published an exclusive interview with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) president Andy Stern. The leader of the huge public-sector union lectured for two days at Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations ("How to Bankrupt Taxpayers and the Auto Companies in Three Easy Steps?") and granted the interview before he left.

For reference purposes, it's worth noting that the White House is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the SEIU. Stern has visited the White House at least 28 times to set policy and, apparently, to serve as lead negotiator between Rod Blagojevich and President Obama for the latter's vacant Senate seat.

Sun: Despite the concern, why has America’s unionization rate been falling for the past several decades?

A.S.: It’s a combination of three factors. One factor is that the jobs that have been exported have been significantly more union. The jobs more in retail that have been created have been significantly less union. Two, we have laws that were written in 1935 that have been weakened substantially by the courts and by administrative law rulings and we have employers who are viciously fighting to stop giving workers a right. And when you look at the difference, with 37 percent of the workers in the public sector in union [sic], 7 percent in the private, you can ask that maybe the difference is the unions, or maybe the difference is the workers, but I would say the difference is the employers’ behavior... The private sector has decided that they want to give people a communist choice, which is no union. That’s all they really want on their ballot, and anyone who really tries to buck the domination and tyranny of the employer will pay a price.

Sun: What do you mean by a communist choice?

A.S.: I’m just saying that in the communist countries when they have elections, there’s really only one choice. [You mean like "Card Check", Andy?] What employers want is to make it very clear there’s only one choice as far as they’re concerned, which is no union.

...Sun: Have you seen many successes so far?

A.S.: I think we’re on the verge of success in healthcare. I hope the president today will announce that he’s on the goal line and he’s organizing a huddle to try to make the plan to get across, which would — for the first time in the history of our country — allow people some sense of security and opportunity to not be victims of the insurance industry and increasingly higher and higher premiums. I think we’ve seen, because of the economic collapse, no real progress yet on how American workers get a raise. I think we’ve stabilized the patient, meaning the economy, but we’ve not begun to revive it significantly. I think that’s the next challenge.

...Sun: So how have you decided to pass the reform? [Ed: note the phrasing]

A.S.: The president, after a long process, has stepped in with his final set of ideas that will come out today or tomorrow. The Speaker of the House [Nancy Pelosi] is preparing the education process to get members of her party understanding the bill. And we hope, in congressional districts all over the country, to have our members go speak with their representatives — call, write, fax — to make it clear this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and we can’t let it slip away.

...Sun: About a year ago, you said that Obama would “shepherd” EFCA to passage in 2009. It still hasn’t been passed, so what went wrong?

A.S.: We all got to watch, from a ring-side seat, the dysfunctional character of our Congress, and particularly the United States Senate, who over a number of election cycles were given a rare moment, which was the ability to debate any single issue they wanted to without a filibuster of the other party. They squandered it and used it instead to hold bills hostage, hold their colleagues hostage, cut special deals for their state or for certain employers. We missed an opportunity to have what Americans sent them there to do, which is to have a debate and vote. Instead we got an arrogance of power, of individuals stopping change because they could.

The interviewer's question about a government takeover of health care is fascinating: "So how have you decided to pass the reform?"

Not: "How are your members helping the President pass reform?" Not: "What can interested citizens do to help Democrats in Congress make a decision?" Not: "Are there some GOP health care suggestions that you would embrace to help Congress reach a bipartisan consensus?"

No, it's phrased as though Andy Stern is calling the shots. And he is.

It's estimated that union bosses donated between 400 million and half a billion dollars of their members' dues money trying to elect Democrats in 2008. The unions' agenda -- and that of the Democrats -- conflicts directly with the interests of the American taxpayer.

And, in return, virtually every policy the Obama Democrats try to slam through Congress -- cap-and-trade, socialized medicine, the "Employee Free Choice Act", and the auto industry takeover -- is designed to benefit the unions and harm taxpayers. And that explains the hysterically funny decision to name Andy Stern, a man whose unions have done mortal damage to federal and state budgets, to Obama's "deficit commission".

Andy Stern, not Alexander Haig, is in control at the White House.