CT Blue

I understand that Jon Stewart has compared the Wisconsin situation to the Bizarro World in Superman, with the protestors being the Bizarro World equivalent of the tea party folks. Superficial, but ultimately wrong, beginning with the fact that the folks in Wisconsin have reality based grievances.

But there is a kernel of truth in his observation.

First let me pause and say that, when all is said and done, the governor of Wisconsin is likely to get what he is demanding. Even if it costs him his job, it will be worth it to him and his backers, as I’m sure the Koch brothers will richly reward him, and the harm will have been done and will not be reversed.

So, back to bizarro world. Let’s compare and contrast.

Obama won his election going away. He came in with large majorities in both the House and the Senate. Yet it was expected that he would and should be “bipartisan”. In fact, he fell right into the trap, trading any chance he had to effectively respond to the economic crisis by liberally smothering the asses of Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins with kisses for the sole purpose of acquiring a phony patina of bipartisanship for his economic program. Result: a totally ineffective program, a lost opportunity to solidify Democratic gains, and, mysteriously enough, a permanent consensus among the press that Obama’s problem is that he is simply not bi-partisan enough.

Scott Walker wins an election, and acquires a large Republican majority. He immediately pushes through a tax cut for the corporations, without even trying to be “bi-partisan”. That tax cut causes a near term budget shortfall. He then uses that shortfall as an excuse to destroy the public employee unions, without even trying to be “bi-partisan”. But there’s no call in the press for him to be bi-partisan. Now we are told that elections have consequences, and instead of calls for bipartisanship we see this sort of thing:

But the dramatic strategy that has clogged the Capitol with thousands of protesters clashes with one essential truth: Republicans told everyone months ago that unions would be one of their targets, and the GOP now has more than enough votes to pass its plans once the legislature can convene.

The filibuster strategy clashed with the same essential truth, but somehow that never seemed to call it into question. So, you see, when they win elections it means they get what they want. When we win them, it means we should let them get what they want.

So Stewart’s right in a very real sense. It’s just difficult to decide which is the bizarro world. Or maybe they both are.