Yesterday I wrote that Erroll Southers surrendered to Senator Jim DeMint by withdrawing his nomination as Director of the TSA.  I wasn’t quite right, as commenters pointed out. This wasn’t Southers’ fault.  This was yet another failure of Barack Obama’s White House to stand up for its nominees.

It’s particularly disappointing because if there was ever a time to push through a nominee, fight back against the Republican opposition, and make the case for why working people need a voice at work, it was in the aftermath of TSA needing a leader after an attempted terrorist attack.  Instead, the White House had Southers withdrawn as the nominee, validating DeMint’s grandstanding against working people.

Here’s how Southers responded to DeMint:

“While I have more than thirty years experience in the law enforcement and homeland security environment, my experience in navigating Washington is admittedly limited. I came prepared as a law enforcement professional to outline my vision for strengthening the Transportation Security Administration and doing my part of make the homeland safer, but perhaps I did not prepare enough to address politically charged issues such as unionization. I understand that Senator DeMint has serious concerns about any effort to unionize the TSA workforce – and I respect that and tried unsuccessfully to meet with him about that – but ultimately that policy decision would have been made at levels in the Administration above me. I went into the hearings with an open mind about the union question with the intention of assessing its potential positive or negative impact after I addressed more pressing issues – primarily security vulnerabilities that exist in our aviation and transportation security. I am disappointed to have to withdraw my nomination, particularly in light of the aviation vulnerabilities that were apparent after the Christmas terror incident and at a time when TSA needs leadership more than ever.”

Southers’ statement passes the buck on the question of allowing TSA employees to join unions, saying he wouldn’t make the decision and doesn’t know whether it’s positive or negative for employees to join unions.  This gives DeMint needless credibility.  DeMint’s fearmongering about “handing control of airport security to union bosses” should be shut down with a counter attack; not demurring and saying you’d evaluate the positives and negatives later.

Besides, does Jim DeMint realize the Capitol Police are union members who can collectively bargain?  Fearing TSA employees bargaining is as irrational as fearing for your safety from Capitol Hill police who can bargain for contracts.  Unless we suddenly find out DeMint will push to renege those officers’ contracts… and who knows, maybe the Obama administration and its enablers in Congress will think it’s a swell idea.  You really never know how many working people will be thrown under the bus these days.