AFL-CIO president: Obama is aligned with tea party, not fixing jobs

Richard Trumka, president of union giant AFL-CIO, delivered a scathing review of President Barack Obama at a press breakfast Thursday morning. He accused him of abandoning Democratic ideals and aligning himself with the conservative tea party.

"This is a moment that working people and quite frankly history will judge President Obama on his presidency; will he commit all his energy and focus on bold solutions on the job crisis or will he continue to work with the Tea Party to offer cuts to middle class programs like Social Security all the while pretending the deficit is where our economic problems really lie," Trumka said, Talking Points Memo's Brian Beutler reported.

Trumka sits on the president's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, which "was created to provide non-partisan advice to the president on continuing to strengthen the nation's economy and ensure the competitiveness of the United States," according to its website.

Trimpka told reporters that he had all but given up hope of the panel achieving any results.

"I don't know whether the commission's making a difference or not...it's a legitimate question whether that commission has done anything worthwhile," he said.

He threatened to withdraw the AFL-CIO's attendance at the upcoming Democratic convention if the party didn't shape up and offer solutions.

"If they don't have a jobs program I think we'd better use our money doing other things," he said.