If Walker calls in the National Guard he may not end up quite where he expects to.

Walker making threats of calling in the Wisconsin National Guard brings up an interesting historical precedent. George Wallace lost control of the Alabama National Guard on June 11, 1963 in an incident known as "The Stand In the Schoolhouse Door." Wallace defied a federal court order to allow African American students access to University of Alabama. Upon urging of Bobby Kennedy, JFK seized control of the Alabama National Guard and the students were admitted to University of Alabama after Governor George Wallace was literally removed from the doorway. (Did you guys see Forrest Gump?)

I have to wonder if we'd see a similar situation develop in Wisconsin if Walker acts on his threat. It is clear that under the right circumstances the President has the right to take control of the National Guard. Could Wisconsin present that set of circumstances?

Has this occurred to anyone else here at DU?



Laura

guess we will have to wait and see

eom

what a hoot!

:rofl:

Thank you for this informative post. K&R

--imm

Which is exactly why Walker will never do it.

If collective bargaining is rescinded, 12,000 state employees
are FIRED, and the Nat'l Guard gets called out, the GOP will look like
the despotic thugs that they truly are on NATIONAL TV.
On the other hand, the high price of that scenario is how to help all
our brothers and sisters that get axed by the regime!!
The Walker regime is counting on all of us not having the stomach
for the truly ugly stuff!!

But it would be so awesome if he did. How did he get elected in the first place? I always thought of Wisconsin as hard core liberal.

A governor sending in the NG to disperse peaceful protesters - who are breaking NO laws - exercising their First Amendment rights is something Obama should not ignore.

yup

By the way, whoever donated a star to me I thank you so much. You are the reason I love this place. Thank you again, kind heart. Nothing that is done for the good is ever wasted.

Obama is NOT an RFK, nor a JFK.

protests to the Governor's union-busting tactics are likely to be the same people that have joined the National Guard!

Teachers, postal workers, firefighters, cops, social workers, etc........

legally gathering then yes I can see this happening. There has been no evidence of the violence that he claimed as the rationale for calling the guard.

Walker is not the smartest bulb in the lot and proves this daily. He won't meet with the citizens of his state but he goes on a Sunday news show. This is typical of the Republicans....when they are the leaders they always seem to be away when their citizens are in crisis.

They did not want a repeat of the riots that plagued Oxford, Miss. in 1962. So they let Wallace play to his base of racist White Southerners, with the full understanding that the Guard would be federalized.

Bush nationalized all National Guards for the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan. They are still under national orders, that hasn't been rescinded. So....Obama trumps Walker.
I remember reading on DU that Montana requested the Feds turn over active Guard members in order to fight forest fires, their request was denied.

makes it easier for the President to take over the guard. I may be wrong but I seem to remember something about that after Katrina.

If he did call up the National Guard, it would have to be for a very, very good reason. People protesting to keep the rights they already have is not a legitimate reason to disband or arrest them. In that case, the President would have the authority to defend the rights of the union workers in Wisconsin, as he would in any other state in the union.

This Governor is very arrogant and has the similar bravado or chutzpah of George Wallace. He is not afraid to challenge the authority in Washington. They are already talking about Obama keeping his nose out of their business. However, when they try to dismiss or "tread upon" the rights of any citizen, they are subject to Federal law.

I agree that there is a similarity between Walker and Wallace--that actually is a part of the root of this discussion, if you want the truth...

I'm not sure Walker has too many National Guardsmen actually at his beck and call right now, anyway. Like Wallace, he may end up restricted to using the State Police to do his dirty work--and it is pretty plain that at least a few of them are supporting the protesters. I just can't see Walker calling for any substantive suppression of the protesters turning out well.

My question is does Walker realize he's painted himself into a corner?

You gotta wonder...



Laura

Otherwise, he may get away with something very dastardly.

I know it isn't terribly popular on here any more, but I do still hold out hope that our elected leaders can sometimes get it right. I also still have a lot of faith in the workers of this country and their ability to stand for what they need. I can't help it, but I still think that there is a bit of Mother Jones and Eugene Debs still thriving in the Labor community. I know it sounds a lot like the guy in Holy Grail saying, "I'm not dead yet!" but that strength is still there, and the determination is showing in the faces of those protesters.

One of the things that the baggers have forgotten, is that they really can't outsource these jobs. This IS the last line for American workers and we recognize it as such. The baggers have also not taken into account that the unions members that are left at this point are some hard core people who really DO get it when the subject of solidarity comes up. I'm not bashing the unions that have already suffered or-worse yet-fallen, but I am saying that the ones still left in the Labor community know full well that this really IS the beginning of the end unless we hold it together.

I also have not given up on Obama the way a lot of people have. Yeah, I know that is not terribly popular on here either these days, but I saw him thrive in Illinois politics when the GOP ran the show in this state. I WATCHED him get an awful lot of progressive things done at a time when the rest of the Illinois progressive movement was pretty much stalemated. Obama will not give up Labor. It ain't gonna happen, and I'm saying it as sure as I'm sitting here.

Will Obama go the route of JFK and Bobby? I dunno. I hope to hell he doesn't need to.




Laura

who, backed by corporate puppetmasters, seems overly confident about standing his ground. At the same time, Obama has kept a low profile on the situation, but he must be keeping a close watch on it. I wouldn't be surprised if this corporate-backed governor followed in George Wallace's footsteps, & even if he cleared his precious, ornate capitol fortress, he'd forever be a pariah from that point on. He has to ask himself if he could put himself & his family through years of jeers & bad press, possibly a recall.

On the one issue that he is known for, standing up for the community and their right to organize and to collective bargain?

Would he stand up to them?

That's because, as many baggers' looney, audacious rhetoric implies, big money can rig elections with bribes wins elections.

I'm sure the National Guard could do a much better job governing the state than Walker, Clueless Ranger.

:hi:

He knows that if he does, he's toast.

Any support he might still have will vanish in a puff smoke as the Republicans in the legislature backtrack as fast as possible away from military force used against First Amendment peaceful protests.

The Teabaggers will flee from him.

different (although the Alabama thing did cross my mind last week).

Wallace defied a Federal Court Order and was using the Alabama National Guard as part of his defiance. The President being the chief law enforcement officer, was operating to fulfill the orders of a Federal Court.

That situation does not exist in Wisconsin to my knowledge at this point.

A plan that doesn't hinge on Obama. Right now he is busy trying to convince the Wall Street Journal and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that he is just as much of an antilabor deficit hawk as the Republicans say they are. If he intervenes in the Wisconsin fight, taking the side you want him to take and using the Guardsmen to do it, the first casualty would be his sales presentation of himself as a stern budget balancer. And that's not all.

If he "interferes" with Walker's use of the Wisconsin NG in "enforcing order in the state's own Capitol" a shitstorm of unimaginably HUGH proportions will be whipped up on the Right. It will be like nothing seen in decades in this country. There will be talk of impeachment. There will be talk of a state of war between the states and the Federal Government. Obama knows what kind of reaction he'd generate, and if he stays true to form he'll steer away from it if he possibly can.

President can federalize the NG and order them to stand down.

There are 7700 Wisconsin NG. Saturday there were 70,000 protesters. Good luck with that.

An interesting scenario that will never come to pass. This isn't Kent State and it's not Minneapolis 1934 either. You're finished politically if you order the NG to "disperse" elementary school teachers and nurses and people wind up getting hurt or killed.

as Governor of California, so it must be the saintly thing to do.


:sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm:

obey Walker's orders, when I think it almost as likely they would arrest Walker for being an "enemy of the people" first. But I have wondered if Obama might federalize the Guard to prevent it from scabbing and union-busting as Walker's personal militia.

I think of Central High in Little Rock in 1957.