Barack Obama calls for Cesar Chavez holiday

Cesar Chavez Day.

That's what Barack Obama is endorsing: A national holiday in honor of the late, legendary activist for farmworker rights (pictured below).

Today is Chavez's birthday -- and Hillary Clinton's campaign was the first to draw attention to that this morning, issuing a statement celebrating the 81st anniversary of Chavez's birth (he died on April 23, 1993).

But Obama, who has struggled to overcome Clinton's significant advantage among Latino voters in state after state, sought to one-up his rival for the Democratic presidential nod by joining the call for creating a national holiday to commemorate the father of the United Farm Workers.

"As farmworkers and laborers across America continue to struggle for fair treatment and fair wages, we find strength in what Cesar Chavez accomplished so many years ago,'' Obama said in a statement from his campaign. "And we should honor him for what he's taught us about making America a stronger, more just, and more prosperous nation.

"That's why I support the call to make Cesar Chavez's birthday a national holiday. It's time to recognize the contributions of this American icon to the ongoing efforts to perfect our union."

Clinton, in her statement, said: “Today, I join millions of Americans in commemorating the life of one of our great civil rights leaders, Cesar Chavez. Driven by his strong desire to ensure better quality of life for migrant farmworkers across the country, Chavez helped found -– along with Dolores Huerta –- the United Farm Workers of America, arguably one of the first effective farmworkers unions in the United States.''

Huerta, 77, endorsed Clinton ...

almost a year ago and has campaigned personally for her in several states, including California and Texas.

Clinton, in her statement, continued: "Under his leadership -- highlighted by nonviolent protest -- thousands of farmers across the country were able to secure improved wages and benefits, humane living and working conditions, and better job security. Through his lifetime of service, he has paved the way for many, and provided inspiration for countless others."

Eight states commemorate Chavez' birthday in some fashion. In California, all state offices are closed, but local government facilities and public schools are open.

The other states that officially honor Chavez are Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin.

-- Mark Silva and Don Frederick

Mark Silva of the Chicago Tribune's Washington bureau writes for the Swamp.

Photo: Associated Press

Eight states commemorate Chavez' birthday in some fashion. In California, all state offices are closed, but local government facilities and public schools are open.

The other states that officially honor Chavez are Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin.

-- Mark Silva and Don Frederick

Mark Silva of the Chicago Tribune's Washington bureau writes for the Swamp.

Photo: Associated Press

Comments

[jane smith]

I'm thrilled the presidential candidates are honoring the American here Cesar is. I know the ufw supports the national holiday and has a page at www.ufw.org/cesarchavez where folks can sign an online petition for the national holiday!

[I_Slay_The_Dragon]

Ten-years ago, NEITHER of these, uh, uh, candidates
gave Mr. Chavez, a second-thought. Shamelessly
pandering politicians, your ever-impending irrelevancy,
truly becomes you....ALL of you.
Inauguration? CORONATION.

[Superpower]

"As farmworkers and laborers across America continue to struggle for fair treatment and fair wages, we find strength in what Cesar Chavez accomplished so many years ago,''

If we would deport the illegal alien lettuce pickers then maybe the legitimate farmworkers and laborers could command a livable wage - duuuhhhh! Obama doesn't give a damn about Chavez, or anyone else for that matter, who do you think is going to cover the expense of all the wonderful things he's whispering in America's ear? -the middle class - that's who! What a fraud!

[Sage]

I respect Cesar Chavez, but I don't think we need to set aside his birthday as a holiday. He was a good labor leader, but he didn't change the country. MLK, George Washington and Lincoln deserve the holiday honor, but Chavez isn't on that level.

Obama 2008!

[olygene]

I am an avowed liberal. I lived/schooled in Berkeley CA iin the 60s and picked grapes in the fields of Delano with UFWOC pickers. I slept in a sleeping bag on the gym floor and ate in the communal kitchen with other volunteers. Yes, I even drank beer at the local tavern with migrant pickers on Saturday night (do you remember sitting on the white benches outside the tavern's front door?) I was there when Bobby Kennedy helped Cesar Chavez end his hunger strike. Given my background, you would think that I would be grateful for Obama suggesting Sr. Chavez be given a national holiday. Wrong! In my heart I feel this is merely a political stunt to garner Hispanic votes. Yes, Sr. Chavez deserves a day of respect and rememberance but not for this reason. I may have voted for Obama before, but not now.

[Jeugenen]

FARM WORKERS ARE MEXICANS; IT IS APPROPRIATE AS A MEXICAN NATIONAL HOLIDAY. IN AMERICA, IT LABOR DAY THAT IS CELEBRATED.

[Scott Russell]

I'm a big Obama fan, but this gesture does smack of pandering to Latino voters. It's harmless, I guess, but I suspect most people will see it for what it is.

[jose]

MSNBC-
OBAMA: ANOTHER SUPER, EXAGGERATION

Washington Post caught Obama in a lie about the Kennedy family role.
Politico reports, “During his first run for elected office, Barack Obama played a greater role than he acknowledges in crafting liberal stands on gun control, the death penalty and abortion– positions that appear at odds with the more moderate image he’s projected during his presidential campaign. The evidence comes from an amended version of an Illinois voter group’s detailed questionnaire, filed under his name during his bid for a state Senate. In response to a Politico story, Obama’s answers he never saw questioaire?

Obama said he goofed on votes angered fellow Democrats in the Senate when he voted to strip millions of dollars from a child welfare office on Chicago's West Side. But Obama had a ready explanation: He goofed! Also announced he had fumbled an election-reform vote the day before, on a measure that passed 51 to 6. The next day, he acknowledged voting "present" on a key telecommunications vote. He stood on March 11, 1999, to take back his vote against legislation to end good-behavior credits for certain felons in county jails. "I pressed the wrong button on that," he said. Obama was the lone dissenter on Feb. 24, 2000, against 57 yeas for a ban on human cloning. "I pressed the wrong button by accident," he said. But two of Obama's bumbles came on more-sensitive topics, he backed legislation to permit riverboat casinos to operate even when the boats were dockside. The measure, pushed by the gambling industry and fought by church groups whose support Obama was seeking, passed with two "yeas" to spare -- including Obama's. Moments after its passage he rose to say, explaining that he had mistakenly voted for it.

Obama would later develop a reputation as a critic of the gambling industry, and he voted against a similar measure two years later. But he was clearly confused about how to handle the issue at the time of his first vote, telling a church group that he was "undecided" about whether he backed an expansion of riverboat gambling. And, months earlier, he had voted in favor of a version of the bill.

NBC- Aswini Anburajan
GREENBURG, Pa
OBAMA LIES IN PENNSYLVANIA AD
It's unfortunate that Senator Obama is using false advertising to explain why he can be trusted to do something about energy prices. In his ad, Obama says, I'm Barack Obama, and I don't take money from oil companies or lobbyists, and I won't let them block change any more. Obama has been the recipient of more than $220,000 from the oil and gas industry just since as of Feb/08. Two of Obama's campaign bundlers are also CEOs for oil and gas companies, per his campaign Web site? Obama needs to answer to VOTERS about his dealings with one of his largest contributors Exelon, a big nuclear power company that he cut deals behind closed doors protecting them from full disclosure in the nuclear industry. Exxon, Shell, and others are among his biggest donors

Judicial Watch:
By Klaus Marre
Obama ‘intended to leave no paper trail’ OBAMA REFUSES to cooperate in releasing 8 years of his state senate records. One main reason REZKO!

The WashigntonPost Fact Checker
ABCNEWS.COM
Senator Obama CAUGHT LYING about Kennedy Role in Helping His Father
Contrary to Obama's claims in speeches Kennedy family did not provide the funding for a September 1959 airlift of 81 Kenyan students to the United States that included Obama's father. According to historical records and interviews with participants, the Kennedys were approached for support for the program a year later, July 1960. family responded with a $100,000 donation, which went to pay for a second airlift in September 1960.

According to Citizen Wells - March 21, 2008: Obama has a dual citizenship with Kenya. His passport was breached today by inquiring minds because Obama is an anti-Israel, pro-pan-Arabian Islamic-socialist who has ties to Marxist Libyan President Muamar al Gadaffi, and a Syrian tycoon, Antoin Rezko, Saudi Arabian Scheiks and Rezko's "close friend" Nadhami Auchi, the one who gave Obama fundraiser money (and helped to buy his mansion): Iraqi billionaire, global arms dealer, Nadhmi Auchi, was Baathist best friends with Saddam Hussein, and the main financial backer (from funds stolen from Oil for Food Program0 for Saddam's - Iraqi -Saudi oil pipeline, and who stood trial with Saddam Hussein in 1959 for conspiring to assassinate Iraqi President Qasim.

[David H]

As is COMPLETELY typical of the media, Hillary puts forth a statement, but the headline is all Obama. What a sad, pitiful state our "democracy" is in.

[bill p]

How about a national day for the Wright Bros., U.S.Grant,Americo Vespucci, Jimmy Hoffa ? Again, the pandering by the democrats is sickening ! Cesar Chavez was a fine man. He was also anavowed socialist, and never hid the fact. Do we need to have a prioritized list of deserved individuals for a National Day? Cesar would not be in the top 10. Democrats stop the nonsense !!

Bill P

[Dan K]

Cesar Chavez was opposed to illegal immigration. He felt, and rightly so, that it held down wages and living conditions of farm workers. I wish he were alive today and perhaps we would not have the problem we have with illegals.

[Paul Hernandez Jr. SFC, US Army]

Cesar Chavez is a worthy recipient of the recognition and as a latino I will honor his holiday. Barack Obama is once again finding a way to unite brown, black and white in our nations which is made up of all these groups. I was already a fervent supporter of Senator Obama based mostly on the Iraq war which by the way takes a whole bunch more brown and black citizens and disadvantaged whites. If the rich and the members of congress were donating the kinds of blood the minorities are the war would never have happened.

BARACK AND ROLL in 2008.

[joshquasimoto]

I agree that this is pandering a bit for the Latino vote for Obama, and I have supported his campaign and will vote for him come the general if he is the nominee. I will also vote for Clinton should she become the nominee, and I hope all of the voter's out there understand that we have to elect a Democrat, no matter what, come November.

That said, and as I stated before, I think this is pandering and if there is a Holiday given to this great Hispanic American then it would not be because Obama, Clinton or anybody in polticial office thought so but because we as Americans should honor those that give their lives to dedicated service to advance all peoples. That is what Cesar Chavez did, that is what DrKing did, and that is what Susan B Anthony did!

To Jose the commentator who I believe is a troll because much of the evidence which he pasted on this blog is downright false. Obama's Senatorial records in Illinois are not sealed, they are as all public records owned by the public, unless their is something propriatary in them. If you don't like Obama, that is fine, but to push a lie on a public blog is disingenious and disheartening to public discourse. You are better than that, I would hope, as someone who has enough time to post on this blog.

[topsight]

How long do you think it'll take 'em to assert that he said HUGO Chavez, not Cesar

[John F]

Give me a break. We dont need a national holiday for illegal aliens.

[David Dawdy]

Our school children need to learn about Cesar Chavez. He was non-violent, soft-spoken, and stood for the basic human dignity of drinking water, and proper toilets for farm workers when the land-owners hired huge white men with baseball bats to intimidate them and discourage them from organizing.
It was my great luck to be asked by my roommate at UCLA film school to record sound while he filmed Mr. Chavez in a compact car driving through a gang of thugs in a field in the Coachella Valley of California. He was to be a delegate to the Democratic convention in Chicago supporting Senator Robert Kennedy for President. My roommate was born in a Japanese ethnic location camp in Oregon in 1944. Being white, I was born in the naval Hospital on North Island Naval Base in San Diego.Very little is taught in Social Studies curriculum in the Public Schools about our history after the Second World War. By the time May comes, so much time has been spent on the period from the founding of the country to the Second World War, there is little time left before the end of the year. I would like to see not holidays for our esteemed leaders but teach-ins, where college students in the humanities come to High Schools and Grade Schools
On Presidents Day, Martin Luther King Day, and yes Cesar Chavez Day. If we don't remember the sacrifices our fore-bearers have made for us, we have little chance of holding onto these truths that are "self-evident". Barack Obama is asking to recognize nationally what several states do already: salute Cesar Chavez as a national hero. I think McCain ought to propose a Dick Cheney Day, so we can learn more about him how much they admire each other's political philosophy.

[Prd2bamerican]

To: Jeugenen MORON!
In America we are free to celebrate what we want regardless of ones race or gender you jackass! You are a racist to classify the MEXICANS as the FARM WORKERS! I bet you are that person that complains about Illegals but pays them to do your yardwork! Hypacrate!

[Viva Pinochet]

This moove is obviously aimed at pleasing The rogue state
socialist criminals and other USA bashers such as
HUGO CHAVEZ,Mahmoud Amadinejhad ,Kim Jong-IL and
old Raoul. Jeremiah W. continues to be a very active
mentor.

[Pictureman]

Just what we need...another progressive peripatetic paean ploy for the Hispanic vote. Shame on you Obama, let Hilary look like the pandering pompous pimped-out politician, not you dude!

[cindy]

Sad that Obama is sinking to an all time low for the latino vote. To suggest this during a campaign for President speaks volumes about his motivation. It isn't that he wants to honorCesar at all, Let's be clear on that.

[Sarah]

As someone who lives in a state that already celebrates Cesar Chavez day, I don't see this as pandering to the Latino vote. (I am white, for the record.)

Chavez was an important leader who gave voice to thousands of poorly treated farm workers. Celebrating his life, sacrifices, and accomplishments remind us of the power of the people to rise up against corporate power. This is an important lesson for all Americans, not just those of Hispanic descent.

[Unite]

Chavez did so much good for this nation. Lets all agree at that and move on. Lets not take this time to divide the nation, but to unite us around the great USA that he and many many others help build!

[Kim]

Farm workers keep this country fed, don't you forget it! Funny that Hillary, the supposed friend and choice of the UFW, didn't think to add her support in her early statement in honor of Chavez's birthday...as usual, Obama made the thoughtful, well-considered gesture...I do hope the UFW was listening since this is one of their goals!! GO OBAMA.

[Victor]

Jeugenen, Ignorance is Bliss, and you my dear blissful person, have proven it. If they all speak mexican then they must be mexican, it is this kind of thinking that keeps people like you ignorant. Obama has finally found a way to attract the Hispanic vote, if it gets him into office he should put his money where his mouth is and pass the law that makes Cesar Chavez day official.

[bp]

Oh, yea our children really need to learn about Hugo Chavez. Not George Washington, not the founding fathers, not history, not science but Hugo Chavez...After all-sine we all work on farms and are migrant workers this is obviously the key to our success as a people.

[NoMoreBlatherDotCom]

1. Unlike Obama, CesarChavez actually opposed illegal immigration. He even went as far as calling the INS on illegal aliens.

2. You won't believe some of the things Dolores Huerta has said, such as her recent support for demographic hegemony. At least she's uncontrolled enough to let us know what massive immigration is all about:

http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/007587.html

[pj]

"Chavez did so much good for this nation. Lets all agree at that and move on."
No he didnt. He's an overrated socialist who the fellow socialist like to priase, never having a clue that they didnt do a danged thing to create a single job, the businesses that hire workers do. Chavez is just another super-over-rated icon for the greivance and socialist 'progressives' movements to glom onto. Obama is using this as a token pandering gesture. How is it that people cant see right through his empty-suit plagiarizing charade of a campaign!?!

I could think of hundreds of more important Americans worthy of honor - from Tom Edison to Genl MacAurthur to mark Twain to John Adams. ...
If we are going to give a man a National Holiday, give it to Our Founder and First President, George Washington, and leave it at that. And the most important union man in US history was Sam Gompers - But Chavez?!? Yuck! Crappy pandering, worse than an earmark!

[Daniel Maldonado]

Chavez opposed "illegal immigration" only briefly. Once he saw that it illegal immigration was used by anti-Mexican racists he immediately reversed his position.

[barb]

I think we're long overdue for making Cesar Chavez's birthday a national holiday. He was one of the most important civil rights leaders of the 20th century. I'm glad Obama spoke out publicly for the holiday and I'm surprised Clinton didn't do the same (I'm sure she'd be supportive of it if she got elected).

But it's easy to memorialize the past. What counts more is what the candidates are doing for farmworkers today and what'd they do if they got elected. Both Obama and Clinton have spoken out against the Bush Administration's proposed changes to the H-2A agricultural guestworker program which would effectively cut wage rates, lower worker protections and reduce minimum housing standards for farmworkers right now.

Farmworkers today still labor under terrible conditions and are severely underpaid. Whoever gets elected in November, I hope they take immediate concrete action to improve the lives of the people who supply the food on our tables. That would be the best memorial to César Chavez!