Stark Contrast of Leadership: Obama v. Walker


While Barack Obama was giving his State of the Union speech this week, he calmly hid the knowledge that he had ordered a successful raid by Seal Team Six to rescue hostages in Somalia.  Mr. Obama never batted an eye.  From the Washington Post:

Publicly, Obama did not tip his hand during his speech, though microphones picked up his congratulation to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta as he entered the House chamber Tuesday night. Obama pointed his index finger to Panetta and said, “Good job tonight. Good job.” Panetta smiled broadly.

Unknown to those watching the speech, Obama had learned shortly before that the operation to rescue American aid worker Jessica Buchanan and another hostage had been successful. Immediately after the speech, Obama returned to the White House to inform Buchanan’s father that she was safe and “on her way home,” according to a White House statement.

On the next night Governor Scott Walker gave the State of the State speech in Madison, Wisconsin, perhaps also with full knowledge of something he did not disclose to his listeners.  From The Nation:

Just hours after he delivered a State of the State address that he hoped would set the tone for his campaign to avert a recall election threat, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was hit with exactly the sort of news that embattled politicians fear most.

Two former aides to Walker—one of whom was in the employ of his campaign until just days ago—have been charged with felonies and misdemeanors in the ongoing “John Doe” investigation of wrongdoing by aides, political allies and campaign donors with links to the embattled governor.

I can hear it now from the quibblers, that Walker didn’t know of more of his cronies being rounded up until after the speech.  Still, this is a sharp contrast, and followers of Scott Walker should be embarrassed.

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10 thoughts on “Stark Contrast of Leadership: Obama v. Walker

  1. Isn’t it mildly disappointing that the only time Obama seems to get a bump in popularity is when he pulls off a daring coup with our military forces?

    This isn’t why many people voted for him.

  2. Eric, I voted for Obama for many reasons, and one reason was for prosecuting the war smartly. I am pleased. As to the bump in popularity, it isn’t necessarily because of this. Obama is riding the wave of comparison, and he comes out so far ahead of Newt and Mitt and the other two stooges that his popularity rises. Simple.

  3. Lawlz to all of this. Scott Walker balanced our budget gave a voice to the tax payers saved teachers jobs and made Wiscsonsin open for business. Obama has lost jobs wasted money causing a 1 trillion dollar deficit blocked jobs from being created and have made more people dependent on government. Hows that comparison??

  4. Walker lost jobs, balanced the budget on the backs of the middle class, gave tax breaks to the wealthy and to corporations, gave favors to all sorts of private interests. Obama saved the auto industry and over a million jobs there, and has presided over an economy that has steadily gotten better since he came into office. Yeah, a cgreat comparison.

    As to your points about Walker, he did NOT save teacher jobs, and he has lost jobs in Wisconsin, making the “Open for Business” claim a ludicrous joke.

  5. http://www.deptofnumbers.com/unemployment/wisconsin/

    Fail to see how he has lost jobs look at the numbers bud before you say some thing like that.
    Second his reforms have saved teachers jobs here’s just one example of it.
    http://www.educationgadfly.net/flypaper/2011/07/scott-walker-saved-teaching-jobs/
    Really the argument of “balancing the budget hurt the middle class” is getting old. You must not understand the your whole idea of make the rich pay for it would not help. So it was either increase taxes on all people or make public employees make modest contributions to healthcare and THEIR OWN pensions. Something that people in the private sector have been doing since well forever…. Now Steven Reynolds have a nice friday and a safe and fun weekend;)

    1. There’s a lot to respond to here, Mike. First, Wisconsin has lost jobs every month since the repair bill was signed. If you don’t understand that then anything I say here is just wasted. As to hurting the middle class, there were tens of thousands of public workers who took a big hit on their paychecks under Walker. You may think they deserved it, but that’s a different issue than whether they took a hit. Still, Walker found a way to give businesses tax breaks, and no jobs have come from that.

      Again, it is very possible you can argue public employees deserved to take a hit of, what, and average of a few thousand dollars a year? But it can’t be argued that they DID take a hit under Walker. That’s tens of thousands of people with a few thousand less to spend in the Wisconsin economy. If anyone is wondering why our economy isn’t creating jobs, that just might be something to point out. Dollars coursing through the economy are important, and Walker drastically cut that flow.

  6. To those who live in the states of milwaukee and madison. Rhinelander: Tax rate UP 12.5 percent. Marathon County: 11 Percent. Chippewa county and city up 7 plus percent. And on and On ! Marathon county lost just about 2500 jobs in the last two months. That won’t show till march after everyone shifts to unenjoyment. Those job losses negate what walker said “He Created” in his speech. As i drive around this state on my trucking route the outlook is “Not Good” At Best. So those who want to spout walkers good attributes. Look around and see the rest of this state. You’ll REALLY See whats going on.

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