Voting union members were rightly holding accountable Congress and the President for actions or inactions they themselves have undertaken.

During campaign 2008, the Democrats told unionized working people that they should vote for Barack Obama because John McCain was going to tax union health insurance benefits in order to pay for his “health reform plan” but Barack Obama would not do that. A year later: Obama and the Senate Democrats plan to tax the hard-won union health insurance plans they cynically call “Cadillac plans”, while taxing the rich is off the table.

Workers perceive that Washington has bailed out the rich folks who caused the mess while ignoring the victims of the great recession. Wall Street gamblers are rescued even as unemployment skyrockets and home foreclosures continue. Is that what you call taking care of your working class base?

Contrary to the clucking of the punditocracy, workers aren’t angry that the Democrats have “done too much”. Just the opposite, they are angry that the Democrats haven’t done enough.

If the national Democratic Party continues to kick workers while they are down, look out come November 2010.