Most Americans have to go to work in order to get pay and benefits. Therefore, the sorry spectacle up in Wisconsin involving teachers and other public union employees -- who a lot of folks get perturbed at anyhow; I mean, have you had dealings with a DMV clerk recently? -- is not going to sit well with John Q. Public.Indeed, John Q. is appalled at the sight of teachers and government bureaucrats involved in selfish, raucous and obnoxious demonstrations. Especially when schools have closed because teachers have joined these boorish demonstrations in mass. Very ugly, very childish behavior.
And, after all, John Q. knows the government coffers are empty and spending must be cut everywhere. So where do these unions come off insisting everybody's ox gets gored but theirs?
Barack Obama, showing again that his vaunted political skills are a thing of mainstream media myth rather reality, is taking the side of the Democrats throwing tantrums. It's a very bad move, Mr. President, for it's one that will emphasize to the public that your recent boasts of tightening the federal budget are as bogus as they were before.
Obama should have listened to wiser voices before weighing in on this sad affair. He should at least have read the editorial from the Democrat-friendly Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Democrats in the state Senate threw a temper tantrum Thursday - essentially they took their ball and went home. Actually, they didn't go home. They apparently went to Illinois, just out of reach of their obligations...
The Walker plan is deeply divisive. We're not supportive of some aspects of the bill, either, including those that will make it nearly impossible for unions to negotiate. And we think that police and firefighter unions should not be excluded as they are now. But public worker benefits need to be reined in, and Walker is right to target them...
One leading Democrat - Obama was his name, as we recall - put it well after winning the White House in 2008: "Elections have consequences," he told Republicans at the time. Indeed they do. The Democrats' childish prank mocks the democratic process.
Meanwhile, some Wisconsin teachers decided to make a mockery of their own profession by penalizing their students after an irresponsible call to action by Mary Bell, the chief of the state teachers union."On Thursday and Friday, we are asking Wisconsinites to come to Madison," Bell, president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, said Wednesday. She then claimed disingenuously that she wasn't telling the union's 98,000 teachers to walk off their jobs.
Unfortunately, that's what many of them did. There were no classes in Madison schools. Port Washington High School had to close. The same was true at other schools around the state. Do these teachers care more about their jobs than their kids? We wonder.
Both Senate Democrats and teachers should get over their snits and get back to work.
The President isn't the only one putting his chips on a losing bet. The Democratic National Committee is heavily involved in this thing as are government-addicted Democrats in other states who are already planning similar protests, disruptions, closures and other unattractive temper tantrums. The government workers' long history of entitlements have put them out of touch with economic reality. And now their rage at having those entitlements pared (as the lack of money requires they must) is putting them out of sorts with the public.
Republicans, here's your opportunity. Be fair. Be wise. Be cool. But hold your ground. For this runaway spending that has ruined our economy must be reined in -- reined in hard and reined in now. John Q. isn't happy about the situation. But he understands. And he wants responsible adults in charge of the necessary process. He's had more then his fill of whining brats.
