Obama Adviser Offers McCain Advice on Veep Pick

By Jonathan Allen | July 31, 2008 5:00 AM | | Comments (0)

Anna Burger, head of the Change to Win union coalition and an economic adviser to PDN (presumed Democratic nominee) Barack Obama, offered Republican standard bearer John McCain some unsolicited advice in his search for a running mate: Don't pick FedEx CEO Fred Smith.

Change to Win's press release, blasted to reporters Wednesday afternoon, used "rising speculation" of Smith as a potential VP pick as a hook to slam Smith.

"A vice president Fred Smith would be bad for America, and bad for workers," Burger said.

Smith, a decorated Vietnam veteran who founded FedEx nearly 40 years ago, got a shout-out from Politico blogger Jonathan Martin early last month and more recent attention from U.S. News and World Report. Still, he would be a surprise pick for vice-presidential oddsmakers.

But Burger, whose minions have promoted her for Obama's No. 2, isn't taking any chances.
"As a well-known lifelong union buster, Smith has a disgraceful record of stripping workers of their most basic rights to organize and fight for a living wage," Burger said. "It is disheartening, although not surprising, that John McCain would consider picking such a notorious enemy of hard working men and women to be his running mate."

Burger met with Obama earlier this week as part of an economic advisory team. Maybe she could advise CQ's VP Watch on who the candidates' running mates will be.

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