A Public Awakening: Wisconsinites Should Be Proud Of What They Accomplished
The history of the American labor movement is crowded with losing battles and crushing disappointments. The men and women who have fought for workers’ rights, often against tremendously long odds, have all too often suffered defeat and humiliation, only finding consolation in the idea that their efforts perhaps succeed in awakening a bit of public sympathy for their plight, inching their larger cause forward in unseen ways.
Yesterday unions and Democrats fell just short of victory in Wisconsin, winning two of six races to recall GOP state senators, in a battle that had unexpectedly emerged as ground zero in a national class war, partly over the fate of organized labor. There’s no way to sugar-coat it: Unions and Dems failed in their objective as they defined it, which was to take back the state senate, put the brakes on Scott Walker’s agenda, and let the nation know that elected officials daring to roll back public employee bargaining rights would face dire electoral consequences.
But nonetheless, what they failed to accomplish does not diminish what they did successfully accomplish. The fact that all these recall elections happened at all was itself a genuine achievement. The sudden explosion of demonstrations in opposition to Walker’s proposals, followed by activists pulling off the collection of many thousands of recall signatures in record time, represented an undiluted organizing triumph. At a time of nonstop media doting over the Tea Party, it was a reminder that spontaneous grassroots eruptions of sympathy and support for a targeted constituency are still possible and can still be channeled effectively into a genuine populist movement on the left. At a time when organized labor is struggling badly and GOP governors earn national media adulation by talking “tough” about cracking down on greedy public employees, what happened in Wisconsin, as John Nichols put it, amounted to “one of the largest pro-labor demonstrations in American history,” one that carried echoes of the “era of Populist and Progressive reform in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.”
What’s more, no matter how many times conservatives falsely assert that labor and Dems subverted the popular will by fighting Walker’s proposals, in reality precisely the opposite happened.
By staging a fight that drew national attention, labor and Wisconisn Dems revealed an unexpected level of national sympathy for public employees, and, yes, for unions and their basic right to exist. This alone was an important achievement, flummoxing pundits who had confidently predicted that public employeees would make easy public scapegoats for the national conservative movement in dire economic times.
Even if Dems fell short of their objective in Wisconsin, what happened was, in fact, a referendum on Walkerism — one that conservatives lost in the mind of the broader public. Nate Silver Tweeted last night: “Dems would be silly to not proceed with the Walker recall based on tonight. The results project to a toss-up if you extrapolate out statewide.” I don’t think Dems will go through with it, but Silver’s larger point is intact: Walkerism triggered a strong public backlash that can’t be dismissed and will remain a factor. As Markos Moulitsas noted, the Wisconsin battle enabled Dems to hone a class-based message about GOP overreach that is showing some success in winning back white working class voters, with potential ramifications for 2012. The national outpouring of financial support for the Dem recall candidates showed that there’s a national liberal/Dem constituency that can be activated by Dems who don’t flinch from taking the fight to opponents with unabashedly bare-knuckled populism.
Will the national support for public employees in polls slow the drive of conservatives and GOP governors to roll back bargaining rights nationally? Probably not. Conservatives will point to yesterday’s events, with some justification, as proof that governors might not suffer direct electoral consequences in response to radical union-busting policies. But what Wisconsin showed us is that the broader public simply isn’t on their side. Let’s hope national Dems take heart.
The events in Wisconsin were a blow to organized labor. But the simple fact is that labor and Dems came within a hair of realizing an objective that was dismissed at the outset of this fight as a delusional lefty pipe dream. Wisconsin won’t chasten the left; Wisconsin will embolden it. And those who poured untold amounts of time and energy into the Wisconsin effort shouldn’t regret their efforts for a second.
By: Greg Sargent, The Plum Line-The Washington Post, August 10, 2011
Crime Pays: Mitch McConnell, Hostage Taker
This quote from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has been making the rounds today, and with good reason. It’s interesting from a variety of angles.
After [the debt-ceiling fight] was all over, Obama seemed to speak for revolted Americans — the kind of people who always want a new Washington — when he described the government as “dysfunctional.”
But at the Capitol, behind the four doors and the three receptionists and the police guard, McConnell said he could imagine doing this again.
“I think some of our members may have thought the default issue was a hostage you might take a chance at shooting,” he said. “Most of us didn’t think that. What we did learn is this — it’s a hostage that’s worth ransoming. And it focuses the Congress on something that must be done.”
Let’s unpack this a bit.
First, after this brutal fiasco undermined the economy and made the United States an international laughingstock, the leading Senate Republican fully expects to do this again. McConnell believes his party has “learned” the value in pursuing this, regardless of the consequences. I wonder if voters might want to consider this before the 2012 elections.
Second, it’s a little surprising to hear him concede that “most” Republicans didn’t think the hostage should be shot. If that’s true, maybe next time, Democrats shouldn’t pay the ransom?
And third, note that McConnell was quite candid in his choice of words. It’s not just Democrats talking about Republicans taking “hostages” and demanding “ransoms”; here’s the leading Senate Republican using the exact same language. In other words, Mitch McConnell admitted, out loud and on the record, that his party took the full faith and credit of the United States hostage, demanded a ransom, and they fully intend to do it again.
Given all of this, it’s rather bizarre for Republicans to complain about being equated with terrorists. As Dave Weigel noted yesterday, “If you don’t want your opponent to label you a hostage-taker, here’s an idea: Don’t take hostages.”
By: Steve Benen, Contributing Writer, Washington Monthly-Political Animal, August 3, 2011
Can You Handle The Truth?: What The Public Doesn’t Understand About The Debt Ceiling
When a CBS reporter asked President Obama why a recent poll shows that 69% of Americans don’t want the debt ceiling lifted, he responded by stating that “professional politicians understand the debt crisis better than the general public.” As I heard the words come from his lips, I knew there would be outrage on the right, and the left and certainly the right again!
The problem is, the president was right; ahem, correct.
When posed with the question, “If you have a credit limit and have maxed out your credit card, should you raise your credit limit so you can spend more?” Americans respond with a resounding “NO!” as would I if that were the question.
But here is the real question:
As an American, did you know if we do not raise the debt ceiling and go into default, that thousands of Americans will lose their jobs? And a 9% unemployment rate will be something you’ll hope for? Or that programs like Homeland Security will be cut which I’m sure will make any terrorist organization smile.
How about home owners and small business owners longing for the days of 2008? And that double dip recession the Republicans were trying to scare you about? Well, it certainly would happen. Speaking of money, our bonds will be worthless; and if you think that TARP and the bailout were bad, that’s just an appetizer for the domino effect not raising the debt ceiling would have on Wall Street, perhaps worldwide; just look at what happened with Greece.
I mentioned that the president was right when he said Americans don’t know as much about the debt ceiling crisis as a professional politician; and I do believe that. When some of the nation was outraged or offended by his remark, I could hear Jack Nicholson saying, “The truth, you can’t handle the truth!!”
We need only look at our own television viewing habits to see evidence to support the president’s rhetoric. Let’s take a little quiz shall we?
- Were the Bush tax credits meant to last forever? Answer: No, just ask the authors of the legislation.
- When is the president planning on removing those temporary credits? Answer: 2013 and beyond, not a massive tax cut taking place in August.
- How many times did President George W. Bush raise the debt ceiling? Answer: 7 times.
And where was the Republican outrage then? Answer: they didn’t have a Democrat in the White House up for re-election!
OK…now a few more…
- What former governor’s daughter was on “Dancing With The Stars?” Answer: Sarah Palin.
- What was the verdict in the Casey Anthony trial? Answer: Not guilty.
- Who was voted off (pick one) American Idol, The Biggest Loser or The Bachelorette? Answer: I don’t know, I was too busy paying attention to the debt crisis.
The point is, most Americans would’ve been able to easily answer the latter three questions. We were glued to our T.V. sets during the Casey Anthony trial; not to CSPAN and the ratings prove it. So don’t be offended, the president’s not saying you’re dumb. He is simply saying you don’t have the time to spend 40-60 hours a week to do a job you elected him and Congress to do. Oh, and by the way, the latest poll shows 47% of Americans (Rasmussen) don’t want the debt ceiling lifted; see even the CBS reporter proved the president right with his question. Love that!
By: Leslie Marshall, U. S. News and World Report, July 13, 2011
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