No Delay On Card Check, So Far

Is the administration going to slow-walk the Employee Free Choice Act, or card check?  President-Elect Obama told the Washington Post yesterday that "while he favored the legislation, said there may be other ways to achieve the same goal without angering businesses. And while many Democrats on Capitol Hill are eager to see a quick vote on that bill, he indicated no desire to rush into the contentious issue."

Is that even possible?

Card check is kind of an all or nothing proposition.

I checked with a variety of administration and labor sources, and all of them indicate that there is no reason to believe that the administration and the Democratic Congress aren't proceeding along expected track.  One union president responded to my question as to the possibility of a delay by saying: "No."

An administration spokesman would not comment for the record, so I really can't even indicate what he or she might have said.

A top labor strategist who is working with Congress and the administration says that labor has "every reason to believe their committment to this important legislation for working families is as strong today as it has ever been."

In other words: don't try to read tea leaves from snippets of conversations.

Timing is complicated by many factors; the Obama team has to deal with the economic recovery first; there are multiple huge issues on the agenda, and neither labor, nor Democrats, nor the administration wants to move on the issue until they're certain they have 60 votes.

That said, if Obama thinks he has a bipartisan way of working through card check, his allies, and the opponents of his allies, are very eager to hear what he might have in mind.