The Exit Interview: Andy Stern changed America forever...and he's bored.

"There's a time to learn, a time to lead, and then there's a time to leave. And shortly, it will be my time to retire... and end my SEIU journey." Andy Stern, April 14, 2010

For the last few days, we (along with many others) have been wondering, why is Andy Stern walking out on the SEIU so suddenly?

Here's the long and short of it:

He's bored.

Let us repeat:  Andy Stern has gotten bored with running the SEIU.

It's not scandal.

It's not illness.

It's boredom.

Let's face it, here's a guy who has changed America...forever.

You'd probably be bored too if you...

• built an empire of purple-clad followers
• taken a relatively obscure union of janitors and doormen and turned it into the largest and most powerful private-sector union in America while almost all others have been failing
• torn apart the AFL-CIO in attempt to make it into something it didn't want to be
• put a President of the United States into the Oval Office
• and, most importantly, fulfilled one of the union movement's main objectives: nationalized health care

Not only did Andy's SEIU push for nationalized health care more than any other union, when it looked like ObamaCare was finished a few months ago, on January 20th, Andy Stern is the guy that provided Democrats with "a path forward"

Step one: The House should pass the Senate's health insurance reform bill - with an agreement that it will be fixed, fixed right, and fixed right away through a parallel process.

Reform can work -- the Senate bill can serve as the foundation for reform and include at minimum the improvements the Administration, House, and Senate have negotiated. We cannot squander the opportunity to make real progress. The House and Senate must move forward together. And, there is no reason they cannot move forward together to make those changes through any means possible -- whether through reconciliation or other pieces of moving legislation.

So, there you have it.

The man has changed America forever.  In fact, he told his members that very thing as soon as ObamaCare passed:  "...we changed America forever."

So, after all that, what do you do?  You've got the President of the United States in your back pocket and you just nationalized 1/6th of the American economy.

Does hanging out with a bunch of janitors and nurses aides and arguing with their employers sound like a challenge any more?

Bah!  Who are you kidding?

According to Politico:

People close to Stern said he had also gradually lost interest in the day-to-day contract battles and internal political negotiations that are a union’s bread and butter.

“He has become more and more interested in economic issues and political issues,” said Kate Bronfenbrenner, another scholar at Cornell, who said Stern had come to view the intricacies of contracts as “not as important as making change on broader political issues.”

So, in between continued visits to the White House, now come the interviews with fawning reporters like Ezra Klein  where Andy Stern can reflect and give his sage advice (as he does here) to the rest of the world and discuss how workers of the world must unite.

Suffice it to say, there's really nothing more to it.

He changed America forever.

He's bored.  So he resigned.

Now, we're bored too.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

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