When candidate Barack Obama needed to win over union workers in Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio, he laid it all on the line, stating "It's time we had a president who honors organized labor, who's walked on picket lines, who doesn't choke on the word 'union,' who lets our unions do what they do best and organize our workers, and who will finally make the Employee Free Choice Act the law of the land." Wisconsin responded and overwhelmingly supported Obama in 2008 (56.3% to 42.4%), and what did they get from him in return? He was a no show during the state's recall election of Scott Walker, resulting in an historic first — the first governor to ever survive a recall election. And not just by a little bit, early reports suggest a double digit margin of victory.
Labor made a big push for Obama in 2008, "built largely around the message that with unemployment rising, the financial system reeling and gasoline and food prices soaring, the nation cannot afford to have another Republican in the White House" and they were repaid with a Tweet in 2012. President Obama wrote, "It's Election Day in Wisconsin tomorrow, and I'm standing by Tom Barrett. He'd make an outstanding governor. -bo." Except Obama wasn't standing anywhere near Barrett, in fact President Obama made zero visits to Wisconsin in the run-up to the recall election. On the eve of the election he was fundraising in New York City with President Clinton (who was busy praising Mitt Romney's "sterling business record.")
Candidate Obama promised to spend less money in Iraq and more in Wisconsin, but how did Wisconsin fare when it came to doling out stimulus dollars? Wisconsin ranked 35th in per capita transportation infrastructure dollars (defined as "[r]epairs to highways, public transit projects") 35th in per capita water infrastructure dollars (defined as "[g]rants for community water quality, wastewater and drinking water projects, clean up of underground storage tank leaks and clean diesel grant and loan programs.") dollars and 30th in per capita energy dollars (defined as "[h]ome weatherization grants to low and middle-income families, energy efficiency grants to municipal and state governments, cleanup of former nuclear sites, energy research, wind energy projects"). Not exactly the type of payback Wisconsin voters may have expected for a 14 point margin of victory.
In a campaign stop in Eau Claire back in 2008, Candidate Obama promised "We will stop giving tax breaks to companies that shift jobs overseas and give them to companies that invest in Eau Claire." Except his tax cuts never materialized, or were phantom tax cuts that disappeared after a year. And if you are wondering how Eau Claire county fared in stimulus spending, well average per capita stimulus spending was $1,645, while the average in Wisconsin was $1,499, and the average in Eau Claire County was a measly $517. The President promised big in Eau Claire, but he sure didn't deliver. Will Eau Claire voters turn out for him in November?
Perhaps this is the new normal for organized labor, empty promises from a Democratic party that needs their support but does nothing to support them in return. That may be new for labor, but it's nothing new for a party that caters to its base in November, and casts them aside between elections (see here, here, and here). The question is, will those who have been taken for granted keep showing up? Wisconsin's recall election may be the harbinger of things to come for President Obama this November.
Gregory S. McNeal is a professor who specializes in law and public policy. You can follow him on Twitter @GregoryMcNeal.
