Different attitudes

It's when I read stories like this that I understand most clearly the tacitcal differences between Republicans and Democrats:

Unions seeking to make employers recognize them without secret-ballot elections are portraying a test vote in the Senate as only an early skirmish in their drive to make it easier to get a better foothold in workplaces....

"It deserves to be defeated and I am confident that it will be," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said leading up to a vote Tuesday on what Democrats have labeled the Employee Free Choice Act.

   

The [Employee Free Choice Act] would require employers to recognize unions after being presented union cards signed by a majority of eligible workers on their payrolls. Under current labor law, a company can demand a secret ballot election supervised by the federal government after being presented the union cards.

   

If McConnell somehow fails, the White House says President Bush will veto the measure.

See, when a Democratic senator, like Obama recently, musters up enough courage to tell auto executives that, in the face of reality, it's time to start increasing fuel efficiency, he's applauded for his courage. On the other hand, the Senate Minority Leader can dismiss the democratic rights of every single worker in America and it's neither perceived as an extraordinary move, nor does he fear political retribution at election time. In the end, Democrats are going to have to come to the conclusion that Americans don't like cars with big engines more than they like blue-collar family members if they want to walk as sure-footedly through risky terrain as Republicans do.