Obama favors examining government oversight of Teamsters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama on Monday said if elected president he would examine the strict government oversight of the Teamsters union aimed at rooting out corruption, but denied any blanket commitment to end the federal monitoring.

Obama was discussing a Wall Street Journal report that said he won the endorsement of the Teamsters after privately telling it he backed an end to special federal oversight set up to eliminate the influence of organized crime in the union.

"I wouldn't make any blanket commitments," the Illinois senator told ABC's "Good Morning America."

"What I've said is that I would examine what is going on in terms of the federal oversight that's been taking place but it's been in place for many years."

Obama said the Teamsters had done "a terrific job cleaning house" and suggested it could be time for the Teamsters "to get treated just like every other union."

"That's something that I'll absolutely examine when I'm president of the United States," he said.

The Journal said policy makers have largely treated the monitoring of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters as a legal matter left to the Justice Department since an independent review board was set up in 1992 to eliminate mob influence in the union.

The newspaper said Obama's Democratic rival, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, has declined to take a stance on Teamsters oversight and that Democratic presidential nominees in 2000 and 2004 did not address the issue.

Obama and Clinton are vying for their party's nomination to take on presumptive Republican nominee John McCain in the November election.

(Reporting by David Morgan, editing by Vicki Allen)