Obama Says USAF Decision Justified If Merits Win Out Over Boeing Rival

"Senator Barack Obama just walked away from another fight for American jobs," declared R. Thomas Buffenbarger, president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM). "This is becoming his trademark. But never before has he done so on this scale, with 44,000 American jobs at stake."

At a town meeting in Wilkes Barre, PA, this week, Senator Obama (right) suggested the Air Force's decision on the tanker deal was justified, if it turns out the bid offered by Northrop/EADS was 10-15 percent better than Boeing's.

That sounds like rational reasoning... but Buffenbarger asserts larger issues are at stake.

"He just doesn't get it," said Buffenbarger. "Airbus has been subsidized by the French government, the British government, even the German and Spanish governments.

"For Senator Obama to equivocate on this issue is a complete embarrassment. But for him to equate our efforts to protect 44,000 jobs and national security with drawing 'a moat around America' just shows he's no friend of blue collar workers.

"Maybe Senator Obama doesn't 'mind the Pentagon procuring from other countries' but I sure as hell do," Buffenbarger adds. "What is at stake is America's manufacturing sector. What's at stake is over $40 billion in American taxpayer dollars."

The IAM represents nearly 720,000 members including 35,000 Boeing employees at locations across the country. the union has been among the most outspoken critics of the USAF decision to award its KC-X aerial refueling tanker contract to the Northop/EADS KC-45A, based off the Airbus A330.

FMI: www.goiam.org