Democrats Failed in Wisconsin Because They Failed Wisconsin - by Robert Scheer [View all]

[kpete]

Democrats Failed in Wisconsin Because They Failed Wisconsin

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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.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-scheer/democrats-failed-in-wisco_b_1576701.html?ref=politics