After 14 years of leading the Service Employees International Union through some major changes and growth spurts, and after months of courting unfriendly fire from right-wing ranks by paying frequent visits to the White House, SEIU President Andy Stern is preparing to step down from his powerful post.
Uplifting as it was to see insurance executives, pharmaceutical manufacturers, hospital officials and doctors gather at the White House on May 11, pledging cooperation toward health care reform, nothing they said or did was inconsistent with precisely the opposite objective.