Governor Scott Walker’s strong, energetic, self-confident announcement speech this week should silence the critics who say he lacks charisma and “can’t win” the White House. The man who has won eleven consecutive elections (from the state house to Milwaukee County executive to governor, including surviving a recall vote) addressed an overflow crowd at the Waukesha Country Expo Center. The Wisconsin Republican spoke clearly and passionately for 34 minutes, with neither notes nor a podium, about his conservative achievements in the Badger State and his free-market aspirations for Washington, D.C.
“Americans deserve a president who will fight and win for them,” a tie-less Walker declared in shirtsleeves. “Someone who will stand up for the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” He sounded like a sorely needed sentinel for individualism when he said: “As long as you don’t violate the health and safety of your neighbors — go out and start your own career, build your own business, live your own life. That’s freedom — the freedom that serves as the cornerstone of the American Dream.”
What a refreshing contrast to the last 15 years of frustrating, federal meddling under the Bush family and Obama.
Walker reeled off an enviable list of achievements.
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“Since I’ve been governor, we took on the unions and won,” Walker reminded his audience. Wisconsin — the birthplace of capital-P Progressivism — is now a Right-to-Work state.
“We reduced taxes by $2 billion and lowered taxes on individuals, employers, and property,” Walker said. “In fact, property taxes are lower today than they were in 2010. How many Governors can say that?”
#related#“Since I’ve been Governor,” he added, “we passed lawsuit reform and regulatory reform. We defunded Planned Parenthood and enacted pro-life legislation. We passed Castle Doctrine and concealed carry. And we now require a photo ID to vote in the State of Wisconsin.”
Walker also can point to a $3.6 billion state-budget deficit when he arrived, which is now a $499 million structural surplus. Wisconsin’s fully financed pension plan for state employees is America’s most fiscally sound. And the state’s rainy-day fund grew from $1.7 million when Walker took office to $279 million today — a 164-fold increase.
Walker expanded school vouchers statewide. “Our reforms ended seniority and tenure” for teachers, he explains. “Now we can hire and fire based on merit and pay based on performance. We can put the best and the brightest in the classroom. Four years later: Our graduation rates are up, third-grade reading scores are higher, and Wisconsin’s ACT scores are now second best in the country.”
The prospect of yet another member of the Bush clan in the Oval Office threatens a morale-crushing return to “compassionate conservatism.”
While Washington Republicans fantasize about such victories, Walker has clinched them — in a heavily Democratic state that has not voted GOP for president since America re-elected Ronald Reagan in 1984.
In contrast to the can-do Walker, the GOP Congress is largely the can’t-do crew. True, Obama likely would veto many of their reforms. However, that does not excuse them from the task of scheduling votes that unify the GOP behind limited-government ideas, split the Democrats between the insufferable far Left and whatever reasonable members remain in the donkey caucus, and educate American voters on the difference.
The last time there was a GOP Congress, it worked closely with George W. Bush to borrow and spend trillions and interfere in innumerable aspects of American life — from prescription drugs to incandescent light bulbs. The result under Bush, Bill Frist, Trent Lott, and Denny Hastert was Brooks Brothers socialism: an ever-expanding state, with its custodians clad in proper suits and cautious neckties. The prospect of yet another member of the Bush clan in the Oval Office threatens a morale-crushing return to “compassionate conservatism.” If so, grab your wallet and kiss your limited-government dreams goodbye.
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If Republicans can keep Congress and be inspired by Walker in the White House, the prospects are bright for a young, bold, high-voltage coach who can motivate the moribund GOP cloakrooms on Capitol Hill and, finally, achieve in Washington the sort of common-sense, courageous, conservative reforms that Wisconsin’s Scott Walker already has stacked up like Lincoln Logs.
— Deroy Murdock is a Manhattan-based Fox News contributor and a media fellow with the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford University.