When President Barack Obama flies to La Crosse, Wisconsin, on Thursday, he’ll look to do more than just roll out his plan to raise middle-class wages.
He’ll also be taking an implicit shot at the fiscal policies of the state’s governor, Scott Walker, who’s expected to jump into the presidential race in two weeks as a likely GOP frontrunner. And the President’s speech, in this setting, will draw a stark contrast between his economic vision for America and that of Walker.
Obama is set to speak at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and will urge mandatory overtime pay for workers earning up to $50,440 a year. The Labor Department estimates the change could aid 5 million workers.
But Walker wasted little time Wednesday in slamming Obama’s speech.
“The President’s effort is a political pitch, but the reality is this will lead to lower base pay and benefits and will cut workers’ hours and flexibility in the workplace,” Walker said in a statement issued from his campaign-in-waiting.
Obama and Walker have clashed before.
The President campaigned for Democrat Mary Burke’s unsuccessful challenge to Walker’s re-election bid last year, and the two men have traded shots over the ongoing negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.
Perhaps most notably, in March, Obama issued a sharp rebuke to Walker’s speedy signing of a “right to work” ban on mandatory union fees, just a few months after he campaigned for re-election with no mention of the fiery labor issue. Obama’s remarks were surprising, as he rarely strays into state issues.
“Wisconsin is a state built by labor, with a proud pro-worker past,” Obama said in a statement shortly after Walker signed the measure. “So even as its governor claims victory over working Americans, I’d encourage him to try and score a victory for working Americans — by taking meaningful action to raise their wages and offer them the security of paid leave.”
But Walker’s aggressive posture toward organized labor has become baked into his national branding, as he presents himself as a leader unafraid to take on entrenched special interests and resilient in the face of liberal backlash.
In his first term, Walker effectively ended collective bargaining for teachers and public employees in Wisconsin, slashing pensions and securing greater worker contributions to health insurance as part of an effort to close the state’s $3.6 billion budget deficit. The move met with outcry from organized labor both in the state and across the nation, and in June 2012, a union-led recall effort against Walker failed, handing the governor a major victory and unions a humiliating defeat.
Yet Democrats were able to deliver Wisconsin for Obama, again, just a few months later.
Wisconsin — one of a dwindling number of states where Democrats and Republicans still joust for control — has drawn much national attention as a bellwether for shifting demographics and political winds, as the influence of American labor, a force that made the rustbelt a stronghold for Democrats for decades, continues to fade.
And part of Walker’s appeal when he makes his expected presidential announcement on July 13 will be his success in the purple state, where he was elected three times in four years and has seen the state legislature add Republicans during his tenure.
“If we can do it in Wisconsin, we can certainly do it in Washington and all across America,” Walker told the crowd last weekend at the Western Conservative Summit in Colorado.
On Thursday, however, Obama will press for more government intervention to help workers, exactly the kind of policy Walker is expected to rail against in his quest for the White House.
“That’s how America should do business,” Obama wrote in an op-ed published on The Huffington Post earlier this week. “In this country, a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. That’s at the heart of what it means to be middle class in America.”