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Cleveland
Plain Dealer...
‘Underemployed’
demonstrator at President Obama’s Cleveland appearance gets offer of
help
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
By Leila Atassi, The Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- While business owners waited for President Barack
Obama in the Wolstein Center, one man positioned himself as close as
security would allow and hoped his message would leave an impression on
the president, too.
He stood near East 22nd Street and Prospect Avenue -- far off the path
of the president’s motorcade -- clutching a sign politely addressed to
the president: “Dear President Obama,” it said. “If I set myself on
fire . . . would you notice?”
The message, which referred to the Tunisian man who set himself on fire
last month in protest of that country’s embattled economy, was signed
“underemployed CSU graduate, MBA 1994, 3.4 GPA.”
The man, who would not identify himself for fear he would lose his
part-time job as a math tutor, said he is an Obama supporter. But he
hoped the president would use his Ohio visit to stand up for the rights
of public employees and unions.
Thousands of union workers protested Tuesday in Columbus and elsewhere
in the state, as hearings continued on Senate Bill 5. The proposal
would eliminate collective bargaining for state workers and public
university employees.
“President Obama is in an extremely tough situation,” the man on the
sidewalk said. “But if he were to do anything in Ohio today, I hope it
would be to speak out against Gov. [John] Kasich’s design to cripple
unions.”
Richard Mallory, a Solon business consultant who was invited to
participate in the president’s forum, was on his way to the Wolstein
Center when he crossed paths with the lone activist.
“Why can’t you find work?” Mallory asked after reading the sign,
prompting a discussion about the dearth of jobs for educators and how
working for sub-minimum wage for so long can crush one’s confidence.
“I want to help,” Mallory said, offering his contact information. “I’m
going to show you how to take the skills you have and put them to work
for you. This is America. You make your own way.”
Read the story at The Plain Dealer
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