Victory for Archconservatives: Wisconsin Recall Election is a Warning to Obama

It seemed that tea party hero Scott Walker had sidelined the Republican Party’s radical right wing. But instead, the attempt to vote him out of office mobilized all the powers of the ultraconservatives — to the detriment of the president.

It was supposed to serve as an example against the radical tea party movement, against the Republicans, and against cuts in the social safety net. A recall attempt against a governor had previously been attempted only three times, and two of the three were successful. In Wisconsin, Walker was able to successfully defend himself — a defeat for the Democrats who had hoped to teach him a lesson.

Archconservative Walker’s victory was a demonstration of the power held by wealthy conservatives, and shows that the tea party movement’s radical agenda isn’t as frightening to as many voters as the Democrats had hoped. It also appears to be acceptable to independent voters.

It had seemed for some time that the fundamentalist wing of the Republican Party had maneuvered itself onto the sidelines. In Walker, the party had elected a charismatic leader as governor in 2010. He had hardly taken office before he began cutting social services, disempowering labor unions and slashing teachers’ salaries.

The result was a protest movement that gave rise to the national Occupy movement. The Walker recall election was to have been the beginning of the end of the tea party movement. But the outrage over social cuts didn’t materialize as had been hoped — in of all places, in one of the few swing states that may be critical in the presidential election.

Instead, totally new powers have been unleashed: the super-wealthy political action committees that financed Walker’s sinfully expensive campaign. The money didn’t come from local purses but rather from powerful out-of-state donors, who will also play an important role in the presidential election next November.

The defeat is therefore a clear warning to Obama: To be reelected, he will clearly have to do more to attract independent voters.