June 2, 2012
Where oh where?
The first question I get from everyone I talk to from old friends to friends in Zumba for Parkinson's class is "Are you hopeful?" When I tell them Barrett will win by 5 percent the reaction is way beyond good--it is a smile, a handshake, often a hug and another smile.
Second question, "Why won't Obama or Biden come to Wisconsin to help us?" I don't have a good answer, so I conclude that it is probably a David Axelrod plan to assume states like Wisconsin with big margins in the last presidential election are "in the bag" this time. So go where there is trouble, focus on marginal states like Virginia. Or it could be that they are afraid of a loss tacked on his chest. So, they say, Obama might help elect Barrett but it is "risky." If he is anything he is risk averse.
I do think Barrett will win. It will be close, but there is so much enthusiasm for the good guys that I believe people will turn out in great numbers. The uprising has made politics fun again. Sure beats hell out of sitting at the Madison Club bar waiting to hear the results.
It is easy for the Koch boys to write a check, but you won't see them going door-to-door. Even if they hire people to go door-to-door or make telephone calls the campaign person must be personable and a believer in the cause to persuade an undecided voter. Yes, it is hard to believe but there are some "undecided" voters out there. There are also some Reagan Democrats who are not comfortable with Walker, Koch or Kleefisch. They get no smiles, no handshake, no hugs. Might get an expletive.
So go in peace but keep your powder dry. Visualize the party on the 6th.
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Obama is an anathema to progressives. He is nothing more than Bush II. Bailing out banks, excusing their criminal conduct, giving Bush and his ilk a free pass on their criminal acts, starting more wars and now killing innocent people with drones - we don't need or want this loser in Wisconsin. As disgusting as Scott Walker is, Obama is worse and that is saying a lot!
-Mike | Milwaukee, WI | June 2, 2012
The citizens of our state and nation deserve better than Scott Walker and his sorry band of tea-party clowns. I don't think Walker's brand of government is what our founding fathers had in mind. I don't think it's what the men and women who've worked hard to build our state and nation had in mind. And I don't think it's what our brave soldiers (past and present) who've sacrificed life, limb and health to preserve our republic and democratic way of life had in mind, either.
On June 5th we will take back our state and restore open and honest government to our statehouse by electing Tom Barrett, Mahlon Mitchell, Lori Compas, John Lehman, Kristen Dexter and Donna Seidel.
-CM | Brookfield, WI | June 2, 2012
I am very optimistic about Wisconsin. With all the out of state money going to Walker from Kansas, Missouri, Florida etc - tells me there is still something in Wisconsin worth stealing.
-nonheroicvet | Disgusted, WI | June 2, 2012
C'mon Mike, Obama is much more than Bush II, it wasn't till after he received the Nobel Peace prize that he started his mechanized slaughter of innocent women and children, his environmental record is worse than Bush's, and his trampling of our constitutional rights and extrajudicial murder compares to no despot, especially given his expertise in constitutional law. Obama didn't come in Feb 2011, we certainly don't want him now, even if he can find his comfortable walking shoes way in the back of his closet.
-Dole O'Mite | Waukesha County | June 2, 2012
I guess I remained unconvinced that Dems really understand what's going down. Why didn't we see more national Dems come into the state the past 15 months? Clinton waited until the last few days. Obama has yet to show his face. Where's Hillary?
Either the national Dems don't take Wisconsin seriously or they just don't get it. Probably more the latter than the former. Dems just don't get it until after the fact.
-Pietr Haikuu | Hurley, Wis | June 2, 2012
It makes me more than a little jumpy when I hear criticism of Obama for not coming here...for two reasons. Firstly, this is not the presidential election, and I feel some (not you, Ed) are egging him on to be able to use it against him in November. Secondly, I truly believe he would have an adverse effect on those Republicans who are ready to cross over and vote for Tom Barrett.
I was born 70 years ago in the district Sen. Schultz now represents, at that time reliably Republican although now shifting blue. Raised by Republican parents who viewed voting as a sacred duty, and never wavered from supporting the GOP, I hardly knew another party existed.
Haven't lived there since I moved away for school, but still keep in touch with longtime friends and extended family, who shared the same kind of upbringing. I had no idea then if they were Republicans or Democrats. Who talks about politics in 7th grade?? And I still don't know today...but what I do know is that we still share the same thoughts and hopes for our state, our families and our neighbors.
It's apparently never occurred to Walker that his "divide and conquer" plan can't be neatly confined to 'union thugs' opposed by everyone else. In my family we have farmers, degreed
professionals, journeymen tradesworkers, teachers, business owners, police/DOC officers, planners and municipal leaders, nurses...the same kind of mix you'd find in most Wisconsin families.
And they're NOT standing with Walker, nevermind that some voted for him in the past election. They're disgusted with his, and the Fitz's, push to ram through every piece of legislation that ALEC has proposed because they see the harm it has done already, and afraid of letting Walker have another two years to complete his agenda.
We can't afford the distraction of President Obama being inserted into what is essentially a private fight...so I say no, not everyone should join in. We can rely on the basic fairness and good sense of enough Wisconsinites to elect Tom Barrett to start the process of healing our state...as we'll go to the polls in November to make certain Romney is defeated.
-Nan | Madison, WI | June 3, 2012
I gave up on President Obama a long time ago, although in 2008 I was an "early adopter" of his candidacy. I think it is just as well that he has left us to our own devices. Whether or not we win the recall elections, we can hold our heads high. I do think we WILL win, and then the really hard work will begin. I would like to see Tom Barrett, Kathleen Vinehout, Kathleen Falk, Doug LaFollette, and other state leaders work together with all of us to right the wrongs perpetrated by Scott Walker and his ilk over the past 32 years.
-Linda Wyeth | Curtiss, WI | June 5, 2012
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