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President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act on January 29, 2009. In this video, Lilly shares her story.

Learn how the Affordable Care Act benefits you: https://my.barackobama.com/acaanniversaryvid

Obama slow jams the news with Jimmy Fallon. He makes three pointers. He sings Al Green in tune.

Romney praises the height of trees. He sings “Who let the dogs out”. He fakes that a New Hampshire waitress grabbed his behind.

This video was originally posted on The Washington Post.

By Mike Hall
AFL-CIO Senior Writer

Congressional Republicans this past week failed in their latest attempt to roll back workers’ rights. The U.S. Senate defeated (45-54) a measure (S.J. Res. 36) to kill a new National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rule that makes modest changes in the procedures for workers who want to vote on whether to form a union. It also would have banned the NLRB from ever issuing any similar fair election rule.

Before the vote, the White House announced that President Obama opposed the Republican assault on workers and would veto the legislation if it got to his desk.

The administration is committed to supporting the right of workers to join and participate in a union and bargain for fair wages, benefits and a safe workplace. These rights are fundamental to better conditions for American workers and to an open, just, economically fair and prosperous society. S.J. Res. 36 attacks these bedrock American values.

Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project (NELP), said of the Republican proposal:

It is disappointing that in the face of growing income inequality and stagnant wages for all but the highest earners, lawmakers would fail to stand by workers who seek only to exercise their legal rights in an atmosphere free of intimidation and retaliation. (more…)

President Obama visits Lorain County Community College in Elyria, Ohio to highlight how federal job training funding is providing critical services for unemployed workers and helping them to get jobs in high-demand, high-growth industries. April 18, 2012.

Robert Borosage
Co-Director Campaign for America's Future

Mitt Romney opened the general election campaign last night in Manchester, New Hampshire, using his acceptance speech to unleash a fierce attack on Barack Obama’s “false promises and failed leadership.”

He said little about his own policies, preferring to contrast his free enterprise vision with what he called Obama’s government-centered vision.

And buoyed by his victory, Romney felt free to issue a clear defense of privilege.

At the heart of the contrast Romney drew with Obama was the big lie. After the absurd charge that under Obama, we will have “effectively ceased to be a free enterprise economy,” Romney made his defense of privilege:

We’ve already seen where this path leads. It erodes freedom. It deadens the entrepreneurial spirit. And it hurts the very people it’s supposed to help. Those who promise to spread the wealth around only ever succeed in spreading poverty.

What world is he living in? In America, extreme levels of inequality have led to economic calamity. The Gilded Age extremes of the 1920s — when the richest 1% owned about 44% of all private wealth — were followed by the Great Depression. The excesses of the Bush years — when the richest 1% owned nearly 40% of all private wealth — were followed by the Great Recession. (more…)

By Robert Creamer
Political organizer, strategist and author

By all rights, the Republican presidential candidate should have a lot of wind at his back in 2012.

• President Obama’s economic policies brought an end to the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression and have now yielded 25 straight months of private sector jobs growth. But many Americans are still out of work.
• The far right has been energized by passage of President Obama’s legislative agenda: health care reform, the equal pay for equal work, ending Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell, Wall Street reform. They hate these policies and they are highly motivated to stop the President’s re-election.
• The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision has allowed a flood of corporate and right wing money that should allow the right to out-communicate the President’s campaign for re-election.

Instead, Mitt Romney is struggling. There are many factors:

• President Obama’s well organized, highly disciplined campaign;
• A bloody Republican primary season;
• The high regard in which most Americans hold the President — last week’s ABC News poll showed 56% regard him favorably while only 40% regard him unfavorably.

But Mitt Romney’s biggest enemy is Mitt Romney.

That same ABC News poll showed Romney is the first major Presidential candidate in modern history to be “underwater” in his favorables. Only 35% of Americans regard him favorably, while 47% regard him unfavorably.

Why does Romney have such a “Romney problem”?

People are not just reacting negatively to the “public persona” of Romney. There is no evidence the Romney campaign simply needs to do a better job getting to know the “real Romney.”

In fact, it appears that the more people to know him, the less they like him. A February Washington Post poll showed that 52% of Americans responded that the more they know about Romney the less they like him. The same was true for 39% of Republicans. That trend seems to be continuing.

No, the problem is not that they aren’t getting to know the “real Romney.” The problem is the “real Romney.”

In elections — and especially highly publicized Presidential elections — voters do not fundamentally make choices between two sets of issues positions, or economic policies. They make a choice about who should be their leader. They choose between living, breathing human beings. (more…)

Sanjay Sanghoee
Former banker; Author, 'Merger'

As it becomes clear that Mitt Romney will be the GOP presidential candidate for 2012, it is worth asking the question whether he really is suited for the White House. Romney is intelligent, polished and moderate. But on the campaign trail, he has made a point of highlighting his private sector experience as his main qualification for becoming commander-in-chief. Romney, of course, ran Bain Capital for many years but it is my belief that private sector experience has little to do with how a country is run.

Lilly Ledbetter explains why equal pay for equal work is a civil right, and Mitt Romney should listen.

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was the first bill President Obama signed into law. When asked whether Mitt Romney supports the Act, Romney’s campaign replied, “We’ll get back to you on that.”