Wisconsin! Not Mississippi and Alabama

Some years ago on a trip to New Orleans, a friend and I routed over to Biloxi.

In sum, as befitting the region's Republican politcal-cultural domination, the public libraries, public schools, public electoral system, health care, and living standards spurred by corrupt government permeating all branches and levels is kept in power by a racist, repulsively ignorant citizenry that is a disgrace to first-world countries.

This state of affairs is the vision of Wisconsin Republicans led by Scott Walker who thinks God guides him in the machinations of his corrupt regime.

But Wisconsin is better than Mississippi and Alabama. Count on it.

Obama Should Learn from Wisconsin

Update: See Protesters Spread the News: Keep Hands Off Medicare and The 7 most awful truths you need to know about Paul Ryan’s war on Medicare.

President Obama should mention Protecting Medicare so often that it brings to mind how endlessly Brent Musburger used to tout: "On CBS" in the 70s-80s.

The vast majority of Americans wants Medicare and Social Security protected from Republicans like Rep. Paul Ryan and the insurance industry.

What President Obama has not achieved is to develop a communication strategy reflecting this popular sentiment of the Americans who voted him into office.

Medicare and Social Security are great economics, demonstrate respect for the citizens who lived in our country the longest, and are great politics.

Wisconsin Recall

Here in Wisconsin the Republicans similarly target popular programs and guarantees that make Wisconsin a great place to live: Access to and protection of voting rights, local control of government, craft breweries, open and clean government, freedom to assembly; the list seems endless.

But unlike the Obama administration, citizens here have in every way, on every day made their views and voices heard.

No one has to guess how Wisconsin feels about the Scott Walker-Randy Hopper regime.

As for President Obama, just over two years into his administration, his message is: Whaaat?

Working families matter; our seniors deserve our respect; the freedom to associate and organize is valued; and people are aching to participate in our country's public affairs in the hope and with the faith that we still live in a democracy.

President Obama, clarify your commitments and fight for us ... like now. One more thing, on the White House issues page, list Medicare! Also: I have been surfing the White House site and I cannot find one photo of the president with the cutline: 'I will not allow any attacks by the enemies of Medicare.'

There's something happening here ...

Millwright among crowd on the square

Madison, Wisconsin—The rally to protect working Wisconsin families surged to an estimated 100,000 people as the coalition opposing Gov. Scott Walker and his budget bill appears to have broadened into a movement that has the governor desperate and Republican legislators on the defensive.



One characteristic of the crowd and those from the preceding days is the relatively apolitical and casual attitude toward politics that those interviewed demonstrated.

One woman, interviewed as she warmed-up in a bus shelter on State Street near the Capitol square, drove down from Rhinelander and is typical of  rally attendees from small Wisconsin cities, towns, and villages.

"No, I'm not real political. But Walker is hurting a lot of people and I had to do something."



Looking down East Washington Ave from the Capitol

Make no mistake, this is a highly charged political battle and professional political operatives in Wisconsin are uniting to defeat a governor they view as having created a critical mass of opposition that will see his recall in 2012.

For Walker's part, the Walker-Koch tapes (audio and text) alone may have damaged the good faith and confidence of mainstream Wisconsin citizens.

President Obama, Come to Madison

Historical crises require presidential leadership.  President Obama, protect the people of Wisconsin and the Union [capital U]. We need you here in person to speak truth to power and restore the promise of unity.

As the "budget repair bill" was passed early this morning by the Wisconsin Assembly (Cognitive Dissidence), and the billionaires' Americans for Prosperity take to the air to lie again, President Obama, you must live up to your promise to protect the rights of Americans; and certainly not frame issues in the disingeneous manner of Republicans.

Your presidential advocacy is required. All we need is the truth about the budget, and the Wisconsin and national GOP program to rip working families away from the American dream. But we need you here, speaking on the Capital steps in Madison without fear, with the hope that there is hope.

Fox and the Republicans won't like it. So what?

This is a political-economic crisis in Wisconsin caused directly by the lies and the colossal GOP con. And the crisis most certainly is not the state budget, but rather the future of the middle class.

The Wisconsin Republicans are using the old playbook of division, eloquently described by Isthmus editor, Bill Lueders.

Of course it is possible for Walker to survive. But the only way that can happen is if he succeeds in his vile politics of division, turning citizens against citizen, neighbor against neighbor, worker against worker. He must continue to encourage people to resent the teachers who teach their children, the nurses who care for their loved ones, the social workers who offer them help in times of need, the prosecutors who seek justice when they become victims of crime, the police who protect their communities and the firefighters who are prepared to die to save their lives.

Press Secretary Jay Carney on President Obama not coming to Wisconsin (February 24, 2011):

I think what we have made pretty clear is that the President thinks and we think, he’s stated this, that obviously a lot of states in the union are dealing with fiscal issues, big problems in their state budgets that need to be addressed. And they need to act responsibly, tighten their belts, live within their means, just as we in Washington, the executive branch and Congress need to do with our federal situation.

This is not about tightening belts, Mr. President. The budget problem is under control. The GOP lie has been debunked repeatedly.

You can handle the situation in D.C. from Madison for one day.

This is about preserving the American Dream and the right to organize and collectively bargain.

Then-Senator Obama during a campaign speech in Spartanburg, South Carolina (2007):

And understand this: If American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain when I’m in the White House, I’ll put on a put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself. I’ll walk on that picket line with you as president of the United States. (Raw Story)

Mr. President, come to Madison. The time is now.