The protests push on in Wisconsin as it soon becomes more and more like Cairo in recent weeks.
Facing the likely passage of a budget bill that would strip most public employees in the state of collective bargaining rights, the Democratic lawmakers fled the state and vowed to hunker down, blocking any action in the Legislature.
President Obama joined the raging budget battle on Wednesday, accusing Walker of unleashing “an assault” on unions by pressing the cost-saving legislation.
“Some of what I’ve heard coming out of Wisconsin, where you’re just making it harder for public employees to collectively bargain generally seems like more of an assault on unions,” Obama said in a White House interview with WTMJ-TV. “And I think it’s very important for us to understand that public employees, they’re our neighbors, they’re our friends.”
“I think everybody’s got to make some adjustments, but I think it’s also important to recognize that public employees make enormous contributions to our states and our citizens,” he continued.
Unlike Cairo, however, the government was not directly involved in creating the protests. According to ABC News President Obama has a key role in the sparking of these protests.
But unlike the scenes of Tea Party rallies, some Republican critics are eager to point out, the latest in Wisconsin are being fomented by the national political establishment — including President Obama and the Democratic National Committee — who have directly interjected themselves into the state-level debates.
Organizing for America, Obama’s campaign arm now under the umbrella of the DNC, has been mobilizing union members and supporters to rally against a proposed Wisconsin budget measure that would strip workers of collective bargaining rights and force them to contribute more for benefits.
Leaders have initiated phone banks and on-the-ground canvassing, and relied on a social media blitz on Facebook and Twitter to build turnout.
DNC Chairman Tim Kaine also reportedly spoke with Wisconsin union leaders and state legislators ahead of the protests, the Huffington Post reported, signaling his direct involvement in coordinating the effort.
“Organizing for America is mobilizing on the ground in Wisconsin to defend the rights of public employees from an attempt by the governor [Republican Scott Walker] to take away their right to organize,” wrote Mary Hough on the OFA blog.
Tens of thousands of protesters surrounded the state capitol in Madison yesterday, while smaller but equally boisterous crowds held rallies outside statehouses in Ohio and Indiana earlier.
National Democrats have cast the rallies as part of a broader message aired during federal budget debates in Washington this week that deficit reduction measures should not come at the expense of state workers or the poor. But they’re also widely seen as an effort by Obama and the DNC to engage with their liberal base.
“We have one thing to say right now: to our allies in the labor movement, to our brothers and sisters in public work, we stand with you, and we stand strong,” wrote OFA regional field director Jessie Lidbury on the organization’s blog.
“According to news reports, the White House has even unleashed the Democratic National Committee to spread disinformation and confusion in Wisconsin regarding the governor’s courageous actions,” he said. “I urge the president to order the DNC to suspend these tactics. This is not the way you begin an ‘adult conversation’ in America about solutions to the fiscal challenges that are destroying jobs in our country.”
Simply put, teachers and union workers in Wisconsin are complaining that they make more than their private sector counterparts and the state must make cuts. No one public worker is recession proof or budget cut proof regardless of the profession.
GET OVER IT and GROW UP. They are all acting like spoiled children who did not get what they wanted in the toy store.
Unions have already undermined and created the overall collapse of the major American auto makers. Unlike GM with the UAW, Wisconsin cannot declare bankruptcy and reinvent itself in a new market.
The people of the United States over the past 60 years have not had to sacrifice. They have not seen any real depression, no real suffering. Maybe it is time for America to learn a hard lesson in how economics and selfishness have a direct correlation into budget deficits.
It is sad that the administration would not only endorse such activity, but send support as well. The administration has overstepped its bounds and needs to be reeled in quickly to save state rights. If It keeps on the path it is heading…my prediction is that more protests will follow..and these will not be pretty for the Obama administration.
