At the Costa Mesa town hall meeting this week, the main item on President Obama's agenda was selling his $787 billion stimulus package and other large-scale proposals on the way on education, health care reform, housing and energy. Obama addressed a crowd of more than 1,000 people in a relatively upbeat fashion, as he promised "brighter days ahead" and the expectation that the administration can create or save 396,000 jobs in the state of California over the next two years.

President Obama also introduced the launch of a new website: www.MakingHomeAffordable.gov, to help borrowers determine whether they're eligible for the administration's housing plan (an estimated 7 to 8 million homeowners are), and to help them calculate how much money the plan could save them on their monthly payments. The plan is designed to help homeowners save money by refinancing or modifying their mortgages.

During the Q&A session of the Orange County town hall, Obama reiterated a theme of looking out for working people and creating an economy where prosperity is once again broadly shared--an economy that's good for everybody, not just the few at the top. "If the middle class is doing well, working people are doing well, then everybody's doing well," the president said.

One of the audience's questions came from the president of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, Bob Balgenorth, who referenced the Bush administration's failure to enforce wage and hour conditions for workers and other workers' rights protections. "What can your administration do to make sure that people get the wages that they're entitled to in this terrible economic downturn?" asked Balgenworth.

In his response, Obama reiterated his support for making it easier for workers to form unions to restore balance and improve millions of Americans' economic standing:

We think it is important that unions have the opportunity to organize themselves.

[...] The business press says that's anti-business. And whenever I hear that I'm always reminded of what Henry Ford said when he first started building the Model T -- and he was paying his workers really well. And somebody asked him, they said, why are you paying your workers so well? He said, well, if I don't pay them well, they won't be able to buy a car.

Think about that...part of the problem with our economy and the way it was growing was that wages and incomes for ordinary working families were flat for the entire decade. Now, I don't need to tell you this because you've experienced it in your own lives. You've just barely kept up with inflation while people at the very top...were seeing all the benefits.

So when I say that we should make it easier for unions to organize and observe Davis-Bacon, all I'm trying to do is to restore some balance to our economy so that middle-class families who are working hard, going to their jobs every day, doing the right thing by their kids -- they should be able to save, buy a home, go on a vacation once in a while. You know, they should be able to save for retirement, send their kids to college. That's not too much to ask for. That's the American dream. And the only way we get there is if we have bottom up economic growth instead of top down economic growth.

Vice-President Joe Biden, chair of the new Middle Class Working Families Task Force, in an interview yesterday with CNBC:

The Wall Street Journal published an extensive interview with SEIU President Andy Stern this weekend --

Let's 'Share the Wealth'

America's most powerful union boss says Europe offers a good economic model.

The Wall Street Journal
OPINION: THE WEEKEND INTERVIEW WITH ANDY STERN
By Matthew Kaminski

"We just won an election. It's no secret." By "we," Andy Stern means "American workers." He also means Big Labor. Speaking on behalf of the fastest growing trade group in America, the Service Employees International Union -- and as one of labor's most powerful figures today -- Mr. Stern sets this simple bar for the Obama presidency: "I expect nothing less than what he said he was going to do, and we should hold him accountable."

From his perspective -- atop SEIU's Washington headquarters, which offers an enviable view of the National Cathedral -- the first part is straightforward: "Massive investment" in a stimulus for the economy, the car industry, deficit-ridden states and infrastructure. Then universal health care, an issue on which the SEIU boss helped push the Democratic consensus leftward, and "tax cuts for the middle class" (and hikes for the upper bracketed). At the end of his list, Mr. Stern puts something particularly dear to unions: Quick adoption of the Employee Free Choice Act, commonly known as "card check," which would end secret ballots in union elections.

The bit about accountability is no idle warning. Organized labor put up some $450 million to get Democrats elected. The SEIU accounted for $85 million of that, making Mr. Stern's union the single biggest contributor to either party in this election cycle. And just in case, the SEIU set aside an additional $10 million fund to get people unelected if need be. "We would like to make sure people appreciate that we take them at their word and when they don't live up to their word there should be consequences," he says.

>> Read the rest of the Wall Street Journal's weekend interview with Andy Stern.