Wisconsin Update: The ‘Big Dog’ rallies the troops for Tom Barrett

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The "Big Dog," former president Bill Clinton, was in Milwaukee today to tell hundreds of cheering supporters of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett that Wisconsin needs "a government with shared responsibilities and shared sacrifice, not 'winner take all.'" WisPolitics Election Blog: Clinton advocates 'shared responsibilities and shared sacrifice':

Clinton said, "People look at Wisconsin and see America's battleground." He said Gov. Scott Walker has created "constant conflict."

Noting that the Pledge of Allegiance mentions the idea of a nation "undivided under God," Clinton declared, "Every day when a child in Wisconsin says the Pledge of Allegiance, it's a rebuke to the far right's winner-take-all, take-no-prisoners, divide-and-conquer, constant-conflict philosophy of government."

"Ordinarily, I'm against recall elections," Clinton said. "But sometimes it's the only way to change a disastrous course."

Barrett, wearing a Milwaukee Brewers jacket, told the crowd gathered at Pere Marquette Park that Clinton "is a fella who knows a lot about the middle class, a fella who knows a lot about balanced budgets, a fella who knows a lot about running a surplus, a fella who knows a lot about leading this nation to the largest economic expansion in our nation's history."

The biggest cheers of the event went for Clinton, with some onlookers jumping up and down in excitement. Afterward, people clamored to shake Clinton's hand and take his picture.

Clinton praised Barrett on education, saying, "As far as I know, he's the only mayor in the country who's taken the lead in putting 3,000 or so high school kids into the workplace so they can understand what's going on and they got a better chance to get a job."

Referring to the Milwaukee 7 economic development initiative, Clinton said of Barrett, "He's the head of a regional economic council that turned the Menomonee Valley from a brownfield into a commercial success with nearly 4,000 new jobs."

Clinton added, "I'll bet you anything there were some Republicans on that council. They were worried about how to put people to work and not divide and conquer. "

In a reference to collective bargaining, Clinton said, "If you believe in an economy of shared prosperity when times are good and shared sacrifice when times are not, then you don't want to break the unions, you want them at the negotiating table and you trust them to know that arithmetic rules."

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Clinton and Barrett shared the stage with several other local and state politicians, including Lt. Gov. candidate Mahlon Mitchell, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore and state Sens. Jon Erpenbach and Lena Taylor.

Mitchell told the crowd, "We live in a time when American values are being trumped by special interests." Citing Walker administration cuts to education and issues of workers rights and voter ID, Mitchell said, "It's more like, we sacrifice and they share the wealth."

The crowd chanted "Bar-rett, Bar-rett" and "Recall Walker" and held up signs saying, "It's time — June 5," "Stop the War" and "Extremism makes for toxic politics."

Greg Sargent transcribed the most important portion of Clinton's remarks:

"If you believe in an economy of shared prosperity when times are good, and shared sacrifice when they're not, then you don't want to break the unions. You want them at the negotiating table. And you trust them to know that arithmetic rules. Show up for Tom Barrett on Tuesday! If you want Wisconsin once again to be seen by all of America as a place of diversity, of difference of opinion, of vigorous debate, where in the end people's objectives are to come to an agreement that will take us all forward together, you have to show up for Tom Barrett on Tuesday! …

"I can just hear it now, on Wednesday. All those people that poured all this money into Wisconsin, if you don't show up and vote, will say, 'See, we got them now. We're finally going to break every union in America. We're gonna break every government in America. We're gonna stop worrying about the middle class. We don't give a riff whether poor people get to work their way into it. We got our way now. We got it all. Divide and conquer works.'

"You tell them no. You tell them, Wisconsin has never been about that, never will be about that — by electing Tom Barrett governor!"

As Steve Benen notes, Clinton makes the progressive case in Wisconsin:

This isn't just another campaign pitch ahead of an election; it's about tying the Wisconsin race to a larger dynamic — Walker isn't just a far-right ideologue; he's also at the center of a divisive experiment in which Republicans build up an enormous financial advantage and use it to rig democracy. Indeed, Clinton spent very little time talking about Walker, and spent the bulk of his time talking about what Walker and his agenda represent.

For a recap of Thursday night's second — and final — Total Recall/Walkergate debate, see WisPolitics.com: WisPolitics: Barrett, Walker fight over John Doe, crime and jobs in final debate (links to video of debate).

Watch video of the debate
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4