Wisconsin Governor Walker survives recall giving Obama plenty to worry about
Walker clinched the state house again to become the first U.S. governor to survive a recall effort
Tuesday, June 5, 2012, 10:32 PM
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker survives recall election.
If you slipped into a coma a year and a half ago, you’d wake up today and see that very little’s changed in Wisconsin since you were gone. Winters still require thermals and a sense of adventure. Brats, beer and squeaky cheese curds are still the Badger State’s three main food groups. And in the fall, 73,000 cheeseheads will flock to Green Bay and hover over a hallowed swath of frozen tundra named for a guy who went by “Curly.”
And yes, Scott Walker is still the state’s governor.
Last night, after defeating Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett – for the second time – 60%-40%, Walker clinched the state house again to become the first U.S. governor to survive a recall effort.
Barrett will return to Milwaukee, and thousands of protesters will (hopefully) return to their jobs and business as usual. Walker won’t have to update his resume, and no one’s scraping his name off his office door.
But as much as life in Wisconsin stays the same, everything has changed, of course.
Because what happened in Wisconsin doesn't stay in Wisconsin, despite what President Obama, his re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee will claim to the contrary.
Indeed, their trying to spin Walker’s win will be fun to watch. We’ll likely hear about evil Super PAC money, even though, when it came to the types of donors that contributed to Scott Walker, only 5% were PACs. Ninety-one percent were individuals.
We’ll hear that Wisconsin was, in the end, a success for big labor, as one million collective-bargaining champions signed a petition that very nearly ousted a sitting governor.
And we’ll hear that Walker’s win is irrelevant for Obama; that Wisconsin will prove in November it can live a double life – the same polls that had Walker winning also have Obama winning in November.
But that neat and tidy dismissal of Walker’s victory whitewashes what are undeniably larger implications for the state and, in fact, the country.
There’s a teleology to the Wisconsin story – a beginning, a middle and an end – that lay out not just a local political narrative but point to a driving purpose, a grand design that may pay off for Republicans and Mitt Romney in November.
Here's the unvarnished truth, though: Regardless of the polls or the fact that Wisconsin hasn’t voted for a Republican president since 1984, Walker’s win puts Wisconsin in play for 2012. And that’s because this isn’t just some one-off.
The story started in 2010, when Walker won the first time as part of a Tea Party sea change that swept the country, both the state houses and Congress. Wisconsin didn’t just elect a Republican governor: It elected a Republican governor who was serious about fiscal reform. That was strike one for business-as-usual in the reliably blue state.
In that same year, Wisconsin ousted Russ Feingold, a long-time Democratic scion of the Senate who had served his state for nearly 30 years, and replaced him with Ron Johnson, another Tea Party pick who was serious about fiscal reform. Strike two.
And last night, Wisconsin doubled-down on Walker’s message of (gasp!) austerity, vindicating not just the governor, but a nation-wide movement to reign in both the spending and the size of government. Strike three.
If presidential politics is anything like a Brewers game, Wisconsin could call Obama outta here in November.
Walker has said he was surprised that he had to re-sell Wisconsin voters on the promises he campaigned on after he was elected. He assumed that since he’d won on those promises, he could go about delivering on them, day one.
That may be a testament to how jaded we are. We have such little confidence in our elected officials that we’re shocked when they actually do the things they said they would.
Plenty of independent voters, who will decide the results of the 2012 election, lament that Obama has been far more predictable. They either think he’s under-delivered on jobs and the economy or over-reached on things like health care and foreign policy. He won Wisconsin handily in 2008. But things are different now. As goes Wisconsin, so goes the nation? Only tim
And yes, Scott Walker is still the state’s governor.
Last night, after defeating Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett – for the second time – 60%-40%, Walker clinched the state house again to become the first U.S. governor to survive a recall effort.
Barrett will return to Milwaukee, and thousands of protesters will (hopefully) return to their jobs and business as usual. Walker won’t have to update his resume, and no one’s scraping his name off his office door.
But as much as life in Wisconsin stays the same, everything has changed, of course.
Because what happened in Wisconsin doesn't stay in Wisconsin, despite what President Obama, his re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee will claim to the contrary.
Indeed, their trying to spin Walker’s win will be fun to watch. We’ll likely hear about evil Super PAC money, even though, when it came to the types of donors that contributed to Scott Walker, only 5% were PACs. Ninety-one percent were individuals.
We’ll hear that Wisconsin was, in the end, a success for big labor, as one million collective-bargaining champions signed a petition that very nearly ousted a sitting governor.
And we’ll hear that Walker’s win is irrelevant for Obama; that Wisconsin will prove in November it can live a double life – the same polls that had Walker winning also have Obama winning in November.
But that neat and tidy dismissal of Walker’s victory whitewashes what are undeniably larger implications for the state and, in fact, the country.
There’s a teleology to the Wisconsin story – a beginning, a middle and an end – that lay out not just a local political narrative but point to a driving purpose, a grand design that may pay off for Republicans and Mitt Romney in November.
Here's the unvarnished truth, though: Regardless of the polls or the fact that Wisconsin hasn’t voted for a Republican president since 1984, Walker’s win puts Wisconsin in play for 2012. And that’s because this isn’t just some one-off.
The story started in 2010, when Walker won the first time as part of a Tea Party sea change that swept the country, both the state houses and Congress. Wisconsin didn’t just elect a Republican governor: It elected a Republican governor who was serious about fiscal reform. That was strike one for business-as-usual in the reliably blue state.
In that same year, Wisconsin ousted Russ Feingold, a long-time Democratic scion of the Senate who had served his state for nearly 30 years, and replaced him with Ron Johnson, another Tea Party pick who was serious about fiscal reform. Strike two.
And last night, Wisconsin doubled-down on Walker’s message of (gasp!) austerity, vindicating not just the governor, but a nation-wide movement to reign in both the spending and the size of government. Strike three.
If presidential politics is anything like a Brewers game, Wisconsin could call Obama outta here in November.
Walker has said he was surprised that he had to re-sell Wisconsin voters on the promises he campaigned on after he was elected. He assumed that since he’d won on those promises, he could go about delivering on them, day one.
That may be a testament to how jaded we are. We have such little confidence in our elected officials that we’re shocked when they actually do the things they said they would.
Plenty of independent voters, who will decide the results of the 2012 election, lament that Obama has been far more predictable. They either think he’s under-delivered on jobs and the economy or over-reached on things like health care and foreign policy. He won Wisconsin handily in 2008. But things are different now. As goes Wisconsin, so goes the nation? Only tim
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