Awaiting Scott Walker's FDR-Inspired Agenda

Scott Walker's bold self-promotion yesterday that he was the new FDR - - and all the time you thought Walker was the new Nixon, as Nixon expert John Dean has noted - - must mean Walker will lay out the New New Deal at the Governors association meeting in Milwaukee later this week.

Unless this was just a moment of ego gone awry, or Walker free-styling, I don't see any other explanation for the timing of Walker's ultra-pompous, Presidential-dreamin' declaration.

And that's doubtful, also because Walker's administration and pronouncements are managed with such unparalleled discipline that even the death of a child at a Milwaukee County facility when Walker was the County's chief executive did not escape his self-interested micro-management, documented here.

So: what can we expect, Roosevelt-wise, from his new devotee?

Roosevelt's domestic agenda was driven by government-run public works agencies, so what better way to get close to hitting Walker's faltering 250,000 new jobs pledge than big new public works programs statewide?

Granted, thousands of Amtrak construction jobs available during what would have been the Madison-Milwaukee "Hiawatha Line" extension were sacrificed before Walker discovered FDR's How-To-Govern manual, but Wisconsin could use a Roosevelt-type Civilian Conservation Corps to clean up the mess left at the iron mining core drilling sites, and at that frac sand spill into the St. Croix River last year.

Since the DNR won't regulate the booming sand operations, the new civilian conservation workers will have plenty of work, with others in reserve to deal with the inevitable tar sand pipeline oil spills once Enbridge gets permission to double its flow capacities across the state.

Walker had stripped money from his budget to help Milwaukee deal with the foreclosure crisis, so what better way to announce a Roosevelt-style Home Owner's Loan Corporation than during the Governors' tour of foreclosed homes that Roosevelt has inspired Walker to save?

Roosevelt also began the Federal Housing Administration, and, Lord knows Wisconsin needs a big infusion of affordable housing. Walker can have a big impact in this area, with lots of jobs for construction workers an added benefit.

And surely Roosevelt's creation of the Social Security Administration will lead Walker to announce that he's changed his mind about accepting federal Medicaid funds. Healthier low-income people of all ages will help Wisconsin's economy, and so far, 20 Wisconsin counties want Walker to firm up his Rooseveltian credentials by taking the money.

A good start to erasing our post-Walker reputation as a cold-hearted, cold-weather state.