Where Were You, John Sweeney, When John Edwards Needed Your Endorsement?

Today I was surfing the net and found this article at HuffPo written on behalf of John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO. The article is entitled, "Winning the Edwards Vote". Here are a few key paragraphs:

John Edwards' exit from the presidential race puts his supporters up for grabs. Both Senators Clinton and Obama want those votes. Here's how to win them.

The central plank of the Edwards' campaign was restoring a prosperous and secure middle class, which requires ending wage stagnation and having wages again grow with productivity. This must be the central economic policy goal of any candidate wanting the Edwards vote.

snip

John Edwards' campaign recognized the imminent challenge of recession and advocated fiscal stimulus. Both the Obama and Clinton campaigns have done likewise. However, it is not enough to just change the economic policy dial settings. The Edwards campaign also spoke to the need to change the long-term direction of the economy by restoring full employment, leveling the playing field between workers and corporations, and fixing unfair competition unleashed by globalization. That's the message that will win the Edwards vote.

The analysis is correct, but here's the problem. The AFL-CIO wouldn't endorse Edwards during the campaign. Neither did the Teamsters or Change to Win. They all knew that Edwards was the union man and was the only one who had a plan for the working man, but they let him twist in the wind.

I thank the Carpenters Union, SEIU's in Massachusetts, Iowa, the Midwest, and California, and Postal Workers in Iowa who were more than proud to back the union candidate. A special thank you to the Steelworkers and some transport folks too who went to Iowa on their vacations and knocked on doors in the different states to help GOTV for John Edwards.

John Sweeney, you can go back now to the corner and sit it out. I'm strong for unions, but really, this is disengenuous to give this advice to the two remaining candidates when you didn't even help John Edwards with an endorsement.