As a prominent swing state, Wisconsin often has the benefit of being aware of possible presidential candidates before the rest of the nation. As the 2016 election approaches, once again, Wisconsin finds itself hearing whispers of potential candidates.
One of the candidates for the Republican Party happens to be our very own, Gov. Scott Walker. And it sounds exciting! What a fantastic opportunity for Wisconsin! In 2012, Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, was the vice presidential nominee, and now our governor is one of the leading candidates for 2016. Throughout this hype, many conservatives throughout the state and the nation for that matter, have picked up their trumpets in support. However, this Republican hopes Walker remains in Wisconsin.
As the results from Wisconsin’s 2014 gubernatorial elections poured in Nov. 4, a surprising phenomenon happened; the election was called before 9:30 p.m. with only 25 percent of polls reporting. Considering this was in a highly contested race, with polls switching from week to week, this was truly a crowning achievement for Walker and Wisconsin conservatives. There have been few elected officials to win three elections in the short period of time Walker has, another tribute to him and Wisconsin Republicans. Furthermore, once back in office after this past November’s election, Walker wasted no time making difficult decisions on the state budget and passing legislation to make Wisconsin the 25th right-to-work state.
And now it seems like Wisconsin conservatives want to throw all of this away. There are many reasons why Walker should not run for president in 2016, but let us start with some basics.
First and foremost, what would happen to all of the conservative progress in Wisconsin? If Walker does run in 2016, he will not be in Wisconsin working to pass bills. Instead, he will be on the road. He will not be signing legislation, not fulfilling his promises to the state, and not providing leadership to Wisconsin. All of the initiatives that the governor has been taking on will be dead in the water, and with no governor at the helm, Wisconsin will again be in a political stalemate. The Legislature may as well take a year-and-a-half off, because very little will be accomplished without Walker. I am sure Democrats would love to push their ‘Walker problem’ off on Washington if it meant that Wisconsin would again turn blue — or at least purple.
Second, let us assume Walker runs and wins the presidency. Wonderful. If we were to lose Walker to the presidency, Rebecca Kleefisch would become the acting governor for the rest of Walker’s term. Furthermore, she would have to pick up the pieces that Walker left behind, again resulting in a period of political stagnation. If she declined the acting governor position, we would get to experience the joys of yet another highly contested election. All sides of the political spectrum in Wisconsin can agree that, at the end of the day, no matter who wins, the less elections that we have, the better.
While I do believe that Walker would make an outstanding presidential candidate, the timing is not right for Wisconsin. Walker has done much to continue moving the state in the best direction possible, and stopping all of his work would make last November’s election essentially worthless because we would have elected someone who could only accomplish six to eight months of work. Not to mention, Walker running for president might create another political stalemate in Wisconsin; which would give our friends on the left good reason to complain for months on end because we elected someone who is now doing absolutely nothing for our state.
Even though an official statement from Walker remains to be seen, it is evident looking at the conservative climate in Wisconsin and the nation that he is a top bid for 2016. However, everyone needs to lay down their trumpets, take a step back from the situation, use the common sense I know we all possess, and realize that while President Walker does have a nice ring to it, 2016 is not the time to hear it.
Leah Holloway ([email protected]) is freshman majoring in communications arts.
