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Truthdig / Truthdig Op-Ed
Published: Friday 8 June 2012
The electorate in Wisconsin, San Diego, and San Jose, Calif., that voted Tuesday against public employee unions were not expressing a rational response to the crisis, but rather a tantrum stoked by the lavishly financed demagogues of the right.
Democrats Failed in Wisconsin Because They Failed Wisconsin
On, Wisconsin! Or so it was meant to be with a union-led recall in the home state of Robert “Fighting Bob” La Follette Sr., the populist governor and senator who once shaped the cry for anti-corporate social justice in this nation. After La Follette there was the Wisconsinite William Proxmire, the great conscience of the U.S. Senate, followed by the equally impressive Russ Feingold, who, despite being exactly correct in warning of the consequences of unfettered banking greed, was turned out by Wisconsin voters in 2010. Perhaps if the original McCain-Feingold legislation—gutted by the Supreme Court—was still the law of the land on campaign finance, the Democrats and their union base would have survived Tuesday’s election.
Certainly that is the excuse provided by what remains of the liberal media, which point to the lopsided advantage in funding for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and to the high court’s Citizens United ruling in seeking reasons for this “billionaire’s victory” over “people power.” But the larger truth is that the spirit of populism has been perverted by the Republican tea party right and that Democrats are left defending government bureaucracy while remaining incapable of responding to America’s widespread economic pain.
At a time when so many are worried about obtaining or holding on to work, it’s difficult to rally around the guaranteed job security and high pensions of some privileged government employees. Not all public workers fit into this category, to be sure. But nonpublic workers who must struggle with the vagaries of private employment have seen more than enough examples of government employee unions, the last stronghold of organized labor, exercising their power to ensure what appears to be outsized compensation for their members.
Of course this argument is a red herring. The budget crises of state and municipal governments were not brought on by excessive pay to firemen, cops and other civil servants, but rather by a banking meltdown that has enriched those who engineered it. Housing values, and the local taxes dependent on them, are down because of financial shenanigans that wrapped mortgages into collateralized debt obligations, and that is the root cause of government red ink. But the job security and pensions of government employees make terribly convenient scapegoats at a time when so many Americans are lining up at food banks.
The electorate in Wisconsin, and San Diego and San Jose, Calif., that voted Tuesday against public employee unions were not expressing a rational response to the crisis, but rather a tantrum stoked by the lavishly financed demagogues of the right. The voters bought their story because the opportunism of the Democratic Party leadership has left progressives without a believable alternative to the tea party’s narrative. Indeed, job creation became a bigger issue than collective bargaining in the Wisconsin race, and the dismal national unemployment figures that came out just days before the election didn’t hurt the Republicans’ cause.
By refusing to campaign in the state before Tuesday’s vote, President Obama proved he has no heart for engaging in a real debate about the sources of our economic crisis. As Bloomberg News reported in an editorial titled “All Eyes on Wisconsin, Except Obama’s,” the president made two fundraising stops within 50 miles of the Wisconsin border last Friday, but studiously avoided entering the state he easily carried in the 2008 election. Instead of visiting, Obama tweeted: “It’s Election Day in Wisconsin tomorrow, and I’m standing by Tom Barrett. He’d make an outstanding governor. -bo.” Not a word of support for the unions that so slavishly support the president and spent millions propping up Barrett.
“Bo” emerged with his popularity intact, according to exit polls, and he will do better in November than Barrett did this week, despite media attempts to treat the Wisconsin election as an omen of things to come.
Few Midwestern independents and moderates will fault Obama for saving the American automobile industry from extinction, if Mitt Romney plays that weak card in campaigning against the president. Nor will the president lack for funds to finance his message. Democrats who made such a big deal about the money from the superrich that poured into Wisconsin were frequently reminded on Internet comments pages that Obama raised more money from the well-heeled than did John McCain in the last election. And to paraphrase those old Smith Barney commercials, Obama got Wall Street’s money the old-fashioned way. He earned it.
That cannot be said of the unqualified support Obama has received from organized labor and the working people it attempts to represent. He has failed both at every turn.
This article was originally posted on Truthdig.
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ABOUT Robert Scheer
Robert Scheer, editor in chief of Truthdig, has built a reputation for strong social and political writing over his 30 years as a journalist. His columns appear in newspapers across the country, and his in-depth interviews have made headlines. He conducted the famous Playboy magazine interview in which Jimmy Carter confessed to the lust in his heart and he went on to do many interviews for the Los Angeles Times with Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and many other prominent political and cultural figures.
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By Richard (RJ) Eskow
24 comments on "Democrats Failed in Wisconsin Because They Failed Wisconsin"
June 12, 2012 12:45pm
Add together all the money Barrett spent in the primary against the vacuous kook Kathleen Falk, coupled with the tens of millions paid to the thousands of Union goons who spent months in the state trying to intimidate voters, and you will find that's Democrats outspent the GOP.
Sorry kids, but Woodstock and Haight-Ashbury are gone forever. It's time for Democrats to purge the bug-eye zealots who have stolen control of The Party, and pursue policies that reflect the wishes of the average American.
June 20, 2012 1:30pm
Hey! Dad! Where do you get your ideas? Exactly whom, and by that I am asking you to name the persons, are the, "bug-eye zealots who have stolen control of The Party".......? Haight-Ashbury? Woodstock? Control of the party???? Average American? What the hell does that mean?????????? (I suspect you are talking about yourself, aren't you?). All you are illuminating here is your age.
June 10, 2012 10:14am
IF Obama wants to WIN in November, he needs to clean house of all of his "advisors" - and probably rely just on Michelle's and Jill's opinions.
Whomever counseled him, an experienced community organizer and Constitutional Law professor, to stay out of Wisconsin should be run out of DC on a rail; and Obama should be put on a 4 month bus tour as punishment for being so stupid - on this and many other issues.
June 09, 2012 12:29pm
It' all about the money with the republicans. Be it buying votes by throwing Millions of dollars on lies in their biased Fox media. Or buying politicians in order to get them to vote down any tax raise. In 1938 we had 33 tax brackets from 4% for all income rich and poor alike up to $64,000. (Adjusted for Inflation), up through 32 more progressive brackets up to a top marginal rate of 79% for all income over $79,000,000. That's what I call "Fair and Balanced". During Eisenhower's rein as President we had a top marginal rate of 91%. President Kennedy dropped this 91% to 70%. As you may or may not know, we have the lowest top marginal rate since the 1920's. This country could get back to a balanced budget, pay down the debt, stabilize the income inequality that is running rampant since Reagans "Trickle Down", and put people to work by the millions if we had a Tax Code anywhere close to what we had in the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's, or 70's. I propose 20 Brackets to $20,Million. Here is a simple solution to 95% of the country's problems: Bracket #1 3% for all income from $0. to $20,000. Bracket #2 6% for all income between $20,000. to $40,000. Bracket #3 9% for all income between $40,000. to $60,000. Bracket #4 12% for all income between $60,000. to $80,000. Bracket #5 15% for all income between $80,000. to $100,000. Bracket #6 18% for all income between $100,000. to $$120,000. Bracket #7 21% for all income between $120,000. to $150,000. Bracket #8 24% for all income between $150,000. to $200,000. Bracket #9 27% for all income between $200,000. to $250,000. Bracket #10 30% for all income between $250,000. to $300,000. Bracket #11 33% for all income between $300,000. to $500,000. Bracket #12 36% for all income between $500,000. to $1,000,000. Bracket #13 39% for all income between $1,000,000. to $2,000,000. Bracket #14 42% for all income between $2,000,000. to $4,000,000. Bracket #15 45% for all income between $4,000,000. to $6,000,000. Bracket #16 48% for all income between $6,000,000. to $8,000,000. Bracket #17 51% for all income between $8,000,000. to $10,000,000. Bracket #18 54% for all income between $10,000,000. to $15,000,000. Bracket #19 57% for all income between $15,000,000. to $20,000,000. Bracket #20 60% for all income over $20,000,000. This a very simple plan that would be similar to the great leaders of the past, and yet not as harsh as the 91% under Eisenhower or the 70% under Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford or Carter. This country was built on progressive tax rates, and won't come back to Greatness until we Tax the rich like the Great leaders of the past. Grover Norquist and his pledge has lasted way too long. This pledge to not raise taxes on the rich should never had been started. The rich had it easy from the early 80's up to today, and now they are so rich they own the Republican Party. We need to vote all Republicans out of office as soon as possible, and if the Democrats don't tax the rich to at least $20,000,000. we need to get rid of them too. God Bless the 99%.
June 08, 2012 8:11pm
But....wasn't it Franklin D. Roosevelt that told us that public employees should *not* be unionized...?
Yes.
I'd rate very high on socially liberal policies, but I definitely agree with FDR on this, and so do enough Democrats. It just wasn't the right issue, not at all.
June 08, 2012 7:49pm
It appears a number of the commenters to this story missed the biggest issue Scheer points out in his article. The only thing wrong was the title. "Democrats failed in Wisconsin because Democrats failed in DC."
The real and criminal aspect of all this economic meltdown has been submerged. We'd have to go back to the start of banking deregulation in DC to grasp what that means. And Democrats have played a pivotal role all along the way.
Everything that's happening today doesn't happen in a void, devoid of historical precedents. But the frightened electorate, ruled by those who can dominate them with fear, are so shortsighted and long term memory deficient that all they can focus on is who lost or won the latest sports championship.
This country is controlled by the moneyed elite who sit in their mansions, laughing at the masses and wage their class warfare without fear of ever being held accountable. Oh, the 99% raise their voices - for a while - but they rarely translate that into power at the voting booth. Primarily because they don't think they have any power to change things. All while creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. And it's going to stay that way as long as they continue doing the same thing, voting for the same thieves, and expecting different results.
Scheer is right. Though he didn't say it this way, the problem is the three-headed dragon of Wall St, K St and the fallacious, duplicitous two party system. So expect nothing to change because the People aren't smart enough to change their stupid, self-defeating voting patterns, even when they have options. But options are useless if no one looks for them because change is frightening.
June 08, 2012 6:21pm
Of course Obama was nearly silent on WI: a good portion of recall supporters were erstwhile GOP-voters, socially-conservative firefighters and law enforcement, who would have been turned-off by Obama's wading in.
I must respectfully admonish this article's author that Union-pinned Jesus could have held a voting day rally, and it still would NOT have mattered, versus the billionaire's $65 millions. You are gazing at your navel instead of watching out for yourself over your shoulder: every Liberal issue must be temporarily set aside as we all ask daily, and all day long, "The Billionaires bought the WI Governorship - why isn't the Supreme Court reversing Citizens United?"
Their silence must be leveraged against them.
June 08, 2012 5:08pm
Wow. Another "progressive" blaming the victims. The Democrats were outspent more than 7 to 1. Walker has the power of the oligarchs, including the media oligarchs behind him, and their aim is to DESTROY American organized labor so we can all look more like Totalitarian Sweatshop Asia. However one must agree, Obama has stabbed organized labor in the back at every possible turn. In that sense Obama is playing the Republicans' game for them. The DINO. Very DIFFICULT TO GET UP ENTHUSIASM for a president so weak and appeasing. But what are his choices really with ALL manufacturing and private capital FLYING to Asian sweatshops? Move to nationalize the holdings of the oligarchs (which is what has to be done) or try to go along to get along...
June 08, 2012 4:35pm
Washington warned Wisconsin that it was a bad time for a recall there. The exact same candidates were offered (unlike California), Barrett is not liked by the union members, money was low and the expense of the recall effort was going to backfire, and the state was in flux. Notice the low union turnout (33%). The idea was to carefully prepare the message, get a union-popular and compelling Democrat candidate and bury Walker in 2014, and reverse the decisions. Progressives are going to have to embrace the long game, and we hate to do that. This is going to be protracted battle.
June 08, 2012 4:10pm
Blaming President Obama or the Democratic Party for the loss in Wisconsin is like blaming a heart surgeon for one's clogged arteries. Gubernatorial recalls are never easy which is why there have been so few. The Wisconsin vote did not not hinge on President Obama's presence. No sitting president would or should interfere in a such an election.
The effort to recall Walker while well intended was an unnecessary political risk. Financial and human resources needed to reelect the President and expand the size of the Wisconsin Democratic Congressional delegation have been squandered. The emphasis should have solely been on regaining Democratic control of the Wisconsin State Senate which thankfully was the case.
June 08, 2012 2:45pm
Obama's "bipartisan" approach to politics has been a betrayal of all who voted for him for "change you can believe in."
Sotomayor was his appointee to the Supreme Court to appease antilabor forces.
His consistent support for Timothy Geithner, and his continued willingness turn use taxpayer money for corporate handouts, just paint him as another corporate hack.
Before he failed to stand up for Barrett, he betrayed Elizabeth Warren.
I'm surprised that anyone could be so naive as to be surprised by his waffling and stabs in the backs of working Americans.
June 08, 2012 2:09pm
democrats lost in wi because it is easier to demonize public workers than any other group! It really bothers some people that pensions PAID for by lower raises taken over the years (and through CONTRACTS! those things you can't break unless you are Bain capital!) are going to those damnable teachers and firefighters and cops and garbage haulers. They actually think they are paying for it all. In the meanwhile the states balance their budgets using the pension money.
I'd love to see the public workers have real strength and strike all of them. We'll see how long a city can survive without their labour!
Workers who voted against the public workers adhere to the general principle, If I don't have it then you can't have it either. Sickening!
June 08, 2012 7:37pm
Dead on. If nothing else, Republicans are successful at divide and conquer. They suck at governing.
June 08, 2012 1:59pm
B.O. stinks! And that's the truth. He has let us down in every way possible. The Obamacare is a loser because it is not universal. And, I guess B.O. misplaced his walking shoes. He said he'd be out there walking with us. He's walking alright. He's walking away from us. He should have the repugnants 90 days to shape up when he took office. After that, he should have gone on his own platform and called them out every single time. He's a tool, but he's the only tool we have for now. As Reilly would say, "What a revolting development this is."
June 08, 2012 5:13pm
I used to work with a guy many years ago who used that tagline all the time. Who was that Reilly character? Was it the actor O'Brian?
June 09, 2012 8:36pm
"Who was that Reilly character?"
That was the actor, William Bendix, in the comedy show, The Life Of Reilly.
June 08, 2012 4:50pm
You seem to be one of those people who think the president is your daddy, and should be part of a fight that belonged to WI. Democrats and other progressives are going to have to do the heavy lifting themselves in their own states, or the radical right is going to take over the country. No president can do it all. My suggestion is that WI and other states targeted by the radical right inform and prepare themselves, and fight so they can win. Nearly 2/3 of the union membership DID NOT VOTE in the recall election. You think that's the president's fault?
June 08, 2012 3:07pm
He (President Obama) is not MY tool. I am done with him. From now on my money (whatever I have) goes to those few people and causes I believe in and my votes, well, it looks like I will mostly be staying home.
June 10, 2012 11:59am
Oh, Suze, that'll really help our Country. Just think if a few less Voters had behaved this way in 2000 & 2004, we wouldn't have an Activist Revisionist Supreme Court re-writing our Constitution; and in 2010 we wouldn't have a bunch of ignorant, bigotted teawhacks in charge of the House.
We wouldn't have the Greatest Threat to our Republic, "Citizens United" and we wouldn't be experiencing a War on Women.
My parents used to term threatened behavior such as yours, "Biting off your nose to spite your face".
Maybe, you want to rethink your decisions ...
June 08, 2012 1:53pm
Politics is messy business. OB was probably correct to stay out of the WI recall vote. The Dems lost for several reasons, not the least of which was those $40 million the Walker forces spent. The other really big reason was that Wisconsinites just don't cotton to recall elections. This is not California. Then finally, there is the messaging problem. The GOP has found a message that resonates with voters. It's all a big lie, but folks are buying into it because it sounds plausable and the Dems are not calling them out. The lame stream media have been neutralized over the years by the GOP harping on "the liberal press" which barley exists anymore. So there you have it. And they will do it again and again as long as it keeps working. They understand that the rules are simple. "First you have to get elected." Soooo, what are we waiting for? Let's stick it to them.
June 08, 2012 1:40pm
Democrats have not just failed in Wisconsin. It's been a steady "abdication of principles" beginning in the late 70's and solidifying under Reagan that has led millions of Americans to essentially vote against their own best economic interests. Clinton sold out by signing free trade agreements and joined the GOP in dismantling Glass-Stegall banking regulations. Low and middle income citizens, particularly various ethnic groups and LGBT supporters have either been thrown under the proverbial bus or seen gains at a pitifully slow rate. Obama would be considered, by policy, to be a "moderate Republican" as little as twenty years ago. When BOTH parties endorse neo-liberalist policies that have been abominable for a majority of citizens its scant wonder Democrats are failing to ignite enthusiasm. "The lesser of two evils" syndrome is wearing thin.
June 08, 2012 1:33pm
Obama was nearly silent on Wisconsin.
June 08, 2012 4:54pm
Two-thirds of the union membership was silent on the recall in WI and stayed home. Why do you think that was?
June 09, 2012 6:01pm
I would be interested in knowing where you got your numbers (two thirds of the union membership did not vote)?