Thursday, April 7, 2011

Is Gov. Walker of Wisconsin a Republican Obama?

I am going to lay out some striking parallels between Governor Walker of Wisconsin and President Obama. First if you are going to pass landmark legislation, the kind of legislation that is a complete game changer, you need to build at least a partial bipartisan coalition. In example,Obama-Care, the President and the Dem's in congress passed this legislation on a strict party line vote. Governor Walker and the Republicans in Wisconsin passed the collective bargaining legislation on a strict party line vote. Did not we all complain that Obama shoved Health care reform down our throats? That is what Governor Walker did with his controversial bill. I am not saying I am against the good intentions behind that bill. It just was crafted wrong, too broad of a bill, too partisan of a bill. All long lasting and ultimately good pieces of legislation have some bipartisan support or they are considered illegitimate. As a result of Obama passing health care the way he did extreme bitter feelings erupted on the republican side. As a result of Gov. Walker passing his bill the way he did extreme bitter feelings erupted on the Democratic side. Obama-Care is getting repeatedly challenged in court and even being deemed unconstitutional. Gov. Walkers bill is getting repeatedly challenged in court and even being deemed unconstitutional. You can not pass legislation no matter how good or how right you feel you are without at least some input from the opposing point of view. Compromise is the heart and soul of politics. Sure you have certain principles you absolutely will not compromise on, but after that you need to negotiate. People took to the streets and our capital building in protest of Obama-care. People took to the streets and the Capitol in Madison in protest of Gov. Walkers bill. Obama received voter backlash to his tactics and Dem's got voted out of office. Will Gov. Walker receive the same backlash?

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