Unlike Obama, Scott Walker delivers

[Conservative]

nice opinion piece on Politico.com

Opinion: Unlike Obama, Scott Walker delivers - Sen. Ron Johnson - POLITICO.com

The simple facts are the governor’s reforms have worked, and Wisconsin is open for business.

Since Walker and his allies in the Wisconsin state Legislature passed reforms that asked public-sector employees to contribute a small amount to their retirement and health care plans, prevented unions from automatically collecting dues from workers’ paychecks and granted local governments more flexibility in dealing with public-sector unions, property taxes have actually gone down. Counties and municipalities have balanced their budgets. And the state has gone from a budget deficit of $1.8 billion to a surplus of $275 million.

These reforms have worked, and the people of Wisconsin recognize there’s no reason to return to the deficits of the past.

We could use some of that fortitude in Washington. At the federal level, the problem is nearly 1,000 times worse than it was in Wisconsin — with Washington running annual deficits of well over $1 trillion every year since President Barack Obama was elected in 2008.

Given the size of the problem and the consequences if we fail to act, the last signal the people of Wisconsin should send to our nation is that elected officials who make tough decisions will be booted out of office. Instead, we should encourage elected officials — in Washington and elsewhere — to take practical steps to control spending and rising deficits.

That has not been the case in Washington, where the president has simply refused to lead. He has presented four federal budgets. None of them included reforms to save Social Security and Medicare. None included a plan to get this nation to a balanced budget.

Instead, the Obama administration is content to prevail over historic levels of spending, deficits and debt. The president’s most recent budget was so unserious, it was defeated in the Senate, 99-0, after being rejected in the House, 414-0. This isn’t leadership; it’s a complete abdication of responsibility.

Walker campaigned on a promise to control spending and encourage private-sector job creation. He’s governed as he campaigned — delivering the reforms he said Wisconsin needed.

Contrast that with the president, who campaigned against an individual health insurance mandate, for net spending reductions, for cutting the deficit in half and for bringing the American people together. Instead of taking credit for promises kept, he’s now focused on shifting blame — to Republicans in Congress, to natural disasters, to the Arab Spring.

Is that what the American people expect in a leader?

 

[PredFan]

Although I have no problem with Rick Scott, I would love to have Scott Walker as governor of Florida. On second thought, we are a right-to-work state so Walker might not have done much better than Scott is right now. Still, as a Conswervative I'm as proud as I can be of Gov. Walker.

 

[Wiseacre]

I think Walker has done well for Wisconsin. No surprise he's looking good to keep his job.