Prospects for the Fall Elections: A View from Wisconsin

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A yard sign in Madison hints at the political energy generated by the recall campaign against right-wing Governor Scott Walker. Credit: Creative Commons/Lost Albatross.


I am writing from Madison, Wisconsin, where the pace of political events and the good cheer of widespread progressive mobilization inevitably shades anything that I would project. Neither the difficulties of Occupy nor the state-wide anxiety that Republican money will win re-election for our ALEC-controlled, right-wing governor, in the upcoming recall, could prevent me from drawing conclusions based upon the last thirteen months, and my hopes for a new political era ahead.
The first thing to be said is that the Obama presidency began its aggressive disillusionment policy with its followers in Summer, 2009, when it approved of the Honduran coup, and made clear that Hilary Clinton was to be War Secretary in the old sense, so familiar with US policy in Latin America for 150 years, of looking for the next opportunity to start the bombing and send in troops for occupation. Nothing since, not even adherence to the Bush-era agreement for withdrawal from Iraq, has changed this picture significantly. Indeed, as of mid-April, war is more unpopular than even in Vietnam days, but this public attitude seems unlikely to hold Clinton and Company back.
Here is Obama’s weakness, deeper than the economy but deeply connected with the economy. I suspect that the turnout in Wisconsin against Republican state candidates will bring the state in–but with almost none of the 2008 enthusiasm for Obama. He would be relying almost entirely upon fear and loathing of the alternative. Outside of Wisconsin, his global policies (not to mention the payoffs to bankers) seem destined to weigh the ticket down. There is currently talk of Obama’s team somehow embracing Occupy and reshaping it, a vision that is so contradictory, in so many ways, that it is unlikely to be tried, let alone succeed.
The War Against Women offers, ironically, the greatest hope for the campaign, in the old Popular Front, anti-fascist sense of mobilization against horrors. It may work and I hope so. But if women’s vote has been historically for peace, then Obama has a lot of work to do, with few prospects of doing it.

0 thoughts on “Prospects for the Fall Elections: A View from Wisconsin

  1. My faith in Obama was rather naive. Part of his being President of all the people requires that he maintain most of the status quo as he gently introduces progressive ideas, because culturally speaking, a huge ship cannot change course as quickly as a skiff (not without force, that is).
    I, too, “fear and loath the alternative.” Let this be a lesson to us that we must embrace civic and political involvement at every level – local, region and national. We must get rid of the Citizens United decision and clean up campaign finance. We must create structures that support leadership development in the public sector. It’s not about political party. It’s about people’s values. We must remain steadfast, plan for several decades ahead, and lay the groundwork for this new world we envision.

  2. Hi Paul
    We’ve not talke since 80’s in Providence. It is good to see you in this place. You are incisive, lucid, and correct. I told people during the first campaign that Obama was a Rockefeller Republican, including Michael Lerner, but it went no where. I do suspect that Obama found out that Washington was more complicated than he thought, and like Clinton, that Healthcare was something that the Capitalists were willing to go to the wall for. He missed that.
    The real disappointment for me was the series of broken promises. The first being the Guantanamo camps staying open. That would have been a powerful symbol, a direct challenge to the War machine. Now the eternal war in Afghanistan. Will our Grandchildren (I have some now!) still see this war when we are gone? I hope not.
    Yet, I will vote for him because a totally Republican government would mean the end of all aspects of the social net. That from the country that should be a leader in healthcare but doesn’t have a system that touches the one in Cuba!
    I hope you are well. I am in Oakland now, reunited with radicals from the 60’s and working here on local issues.

  3. Paul and I go way back to 1966 when I knocked on his door in our Madison (WISC) neighborhood trying to collect signatures for a ballot question demanding withdrawal from Vietnam. We had a wonderful debate about the efficacy of electoral politics and in some way we’ve been discussing that and similar issues ever since.
    The question is not whether to VOTE for Obama or not (that takes almost no effort and folks in Wisconsin will want to be voting to get rid of right-wing state legislators) — the question is whether to WORK for Obama.
    It actually depends on “how much worse” we think a Romney Presidency will be. Will there be war with Iran? (I doubt Al Gore as President would have gone to war in Iraq even if he hadn’t prevented 9/11) Will the Supreme Court be locked into an extreme right-wing policy-making pattern for the next generation?? Will efforts to suppress voting be even more successful.
    If these are long term worries then unfortunately even good leftists will have to not merely VOTE for Obama but work for him to forestall something MUCH WORSE.
    If, however, we think it will be only MARGINALLY worse — then a “plague on both your houses” approach while people focus on organizing and talking up real anti-capitalism is the way to more productively spend time between now and early November.

  4. First, congratulations to Paul on publishing in Tikkun without reference to the Sovereign of the Universe and the wisdom in His Torah and Talmud, the sources of All Wisdom in matters relating to peace and social and economic justice, as we have been taught by the Supreme Rabbi/Publisher.
    As for enthusiastic support for Obama, permit me to refer to history rather than Holy Text. In Germany in 1932, anti-capitalists of various stripes — Socialists and Communists, mainly — were so convinced that only their particular way was fully kosher that they refused to unite with the non-trustworthy “others.” The result is written in world history in letters of blood.
    An extreme comparison, an hysterical parallel? Have you heard the rhetoric of Tea Partyers, of Gingrich and Santorum? Arizona’s anti-immigrant law, much of which seems headed for approval by the Supreme Court, may not read quite like the Nuremberg Laws, but the basic premise of “undesireables” — and the stench — are far too familiar.
    The failures of Obama’s first term are not only, or primarily, his. Significant blame can be found on the doorstep of progressives who failed to utilize the movement that developed for him in ’08 to press for our agenda through the kind of organization that developed out of desperation in Wisconsin and in Occupy. Progressives can, perhaps, retrieve that lost opportunity by mounting a progressive and, yes, enthusiastic campaign for Obama and Congressional candidates that will make clear our objectives. The Tea Party did it with the GOP in 2010. What’s holding us back?

    • I agree completely with your analysis. I have a hard time believing that Obama supporters can turn so negative when it is now obvious that Barack and democrats do not have a magic wand- or 60 votes in the Senate. The logjam of good legislation stretches as far as the eye can see. Perhaps all readers here would be mre properly informed by taking a look at the Randi Rhodes website. She has compiled a “Top 50” accomplishments of Obama list. We need to keep in mind the facts, and not just dwell on the frustration of our fantasies.

  5. I actually agree with Hershl. I have been worried about fascism American style ever since I read Chris Hedges’ book AMERICAN FASCISTS … The Tea Party seems like the shock troops of fascism — and the ideology of the Repugs plus the religious right creates the mass ideology!

  6. To be clear, I am not turning negative. I am saying what I did about Obama all along. He is not a traditional liberal. I will support him because I actually like him as a person. My wife’s boss is a good friend of Michelle Obama. (The boss is African American from Chicago.)
    I just think radicals need to be realistic about American candidates and their limitations. Obama does not have a critique of capitalism. He is inside the envelope on it. I am outside. I am a socialist, and I think Capitalism is a terrible, hurtful way to organize people’s lives.
    There is a real issue in this election. Obama has done many things positive. He is positive himself. He is also funny, which these days is a lost art!!!!!

  7. While I didn’t vote for Obama, I was supportive of him as I have been of all who hold the office of POTUS. My take is that while his intentions articulated in the campaign of 2008 were insightful, he somehow lost the verve to actually take on the issues. I believe he has been a victim of some very poor advice, administered by folks like Axlerod (who began as a sports reporter) and Jarrret (who has been the surragate “mother” reminding Barry that he’s the smartest, coolest guy in the world). The focus on polls (always denied) had many of the policy attempts blowing in the wind as the advisors influenced President Obama to shift course, start arguments he couldn’t defend, and generally vacilate just like the politicians he so maligned in 2007. Too bad. A great opportunity in American politics wasted.

  8. Thanks to Mark for the tip about Randi Rhodes’ informative post — 6 pages of background on Obama’s three years. Still, Obama’s unmentioned passivity when the Patriot Act came up for renewal is likely to haunt us all.

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