Walker And The Recall Will Catch The Occupy Wall Street Wave

(originally posted, 11:59 p.m., October 12, 2001) Funny how things work out.

It has been a given that Scott Walker would face a recall movement, but the timing was up for debate, with some progressives concerned that gathering recall signatures as soon as possible beginning in November would be difficult, given that the tight, 60-day petitioning window included Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's holidays - - while giving Walker an immediate fund-raising advantage

Truth was, no amount of strategizing and control from the top was going to delay the inevitable because angry voter/activists were going to run a movement at the grassroots and push others to run with the fast-tracked timetable.

So while Walker, as an incumbent elected official under recall, will indeed be able to raise Koch Brother-unlimited-level conservative donations, and the Right will galvanize to try and save him  - - look what has sprung up, out of the blue, unexpectedly - -  a phenomenon - - the Occupy Wall Street movement.

That movement, going national and with expanding media, has deep roots in the anti-Walker protests that began in Madison this winter, and which helped legitimize direct, street action, will come full circle back to Wisconsin with Occupy rallies on October 15th.

Where it will pick up energy and help launch and support the Walker recall just a few weeks later.

What a political lesson all this is: A few months ago, no one thought to label Walker representative of, and toadying for, the 1%, to the disregard of the 99%.

So much of what politicians react to, and cannot stage-manage, is out of their control, and while Walker and his people assumed that talk radio allies and rich backers could help him tough his way through a recall campaign, along comes a larger, righteous movement that can and will brand Scott Walker as emblematic of everything that needs to be overturned to return American democracy to fair play and open governance.