Wisconsin Recall

I didn't like the California recall election in 2003, where Gray Davis was recalled and Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected. And I don't like the recall in Wisconsin. Short of illegal activity, elected officials should serve out their terms. If we had recall elections for every elected or executive official that is unpopular at some point in their term, officials would never be able to govern.

Fortunately, these things happen infrequently, and I hope it stays that way. And frankly, I am kind of glad Scott Walker won the recall because it will give other groups in other states pause before trying this. If Walker had lost, Republicans likely would have reacted by going after Democratic governors in every state they could.

While someone is governing, all energy should be going towards policy debates. We should save the politics for the elections. Recalls threaten to make everything about politics and elections never-ending.

The recall was also just bad strategy on the Democrat's part. They could have moderated Scott Walker with protests and other tactics to bring down his polling numbers. In fact, there was a time when Walker was at least talking about finding consensus and moderating a bit because of those tactics. He may not have been genuine, but he at least felt chastened and compelled to say those things.

But now that he won the recall decisively, he will feel no need to moderate and will only be more aggressive - more far-right. And worse, he is being discussed as a potential national candidate. Before the recall effort, he looked like a buffoon who went too far. Now the press is calling him a conservative hero. Granted, I think the press greatly exaggerates things, but the point is that wouldn't have been said 6 months ago.

There is also evidence that many people voted for Scott Walker simply because they didn't agree with the recall effort. This means that his overwhelming victory is partly based on moderates disagreeing with Democrats' tactics and therefore exaggerating Walker's overall support. This makes Scott Walker stronger than he should be. Overall, this was really bad strategy.