For months now, Republicans have turned to each other and said, “Who’s the candidate?”
President Obama is vulnerable in 2012, clearly, but you can’t beat something with nothing, and right now, the GOP field looks pretty much like . . . nothing.
Who’ll have the stature to compete? Thanks to those Democratic lawmakers fleeing Wisconsin and Indiana to frustrate the democratic process they swore an oath to uphold, we may have an answer.
They, and the demonstrators screaming about the governors seeking cuts in the absurdly generous benefits granted to public-sector workers, have created a national stage on which a new and dynamic candidate can emerge.
The governors (and perhaps the House members) who are taking on these battles are fighting the fight of the GOP future, and one of them now seems certain to take the mantle of 2012.
Judging from his extraordinarily effective speech last night, that governor could be Wisconsin’s Scott Walker.
For a week, Walker’s wilder opponents have dared to compare him to Hitler and Mubarak. The man who delivered last night’s “fireside chat” sounded serious, reasonable, and anything but incendiary.
He made a canny decision to pitch his opening at union workers who aren’t calling in sick, as the teachers in Wisconsin shamefully are. He thanked all “who showed up for work today,” adding, “we all respect the work you do.”
He explained that his controversial bill — which would require state employees to defray some costs of their health-care and pension benefits — would still provide them with a deal most private-sector workers in the state would die for.
Walker is going to win or lose his battle on two issues. He needs to convince Wisconsin’s voters that “the legislation I’ve put forward is about one thing. It’s about balancing our budget now — and in the future.” He made a very strong case.
But even more important politically is his criticism of the lawmakers who fled the state because they knew if they stayed in Madison, the bill he wanted would pass.
“Whether we like the outcome or not, our democratic institutions call for us to participate,” he said. “That is why I am asking the missing senators to come back to work. Do the job you were elected to do. You don’t have to like the outcome, or even vote yes, but as part of the world’s greatest democracy, you should be here.”
If they fail to act, he said, the harsh consequences in the form of forced layoffs would be their responsibility.
This is great political drama, and Walker is its star. To triumph, he will have to win it and seem magnanimous in victory — and show that his victory had positive results.
The same would be true for John Kasich of Ohio as he begins the same battle, and for Chris Christie, who’s already a year ahead of them.
Yes, Walker (like Christie) would present himself for the presidency with a brief electoral resume. But it’d be hard for one-term Sen. Barack Obama to make that argument.
And if one of them does come to the fore, he’ll go up against Obama having done something, which is more than Obama had to show for himself in 2008.