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What Scott Walker Actually Said
Yes, believe it or not, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker actually spoke at some length at the dinner this past week where Rudy Giuliani charged that President Obama doesn’t love America. All the hullabaloo went to Giuliani, but in terms of the Republican presidential race, a number of Scott Walker’s pointed comments about policy and politicians are not to be missed.
First a word about the dinner itself, which was generously backed by John Catsimatidis. It was the second event sponsored by the Committee to Unleash American Prosperity, a new group founded by Arthur Laffer, Steve Moore, Steve Forbes, and myself. Just as the Committee on the Present Danger — formed by Midge Decter, Norman Podhoretz, and Irving Kristol — worried about the decline in American foreign policy in the late 1970s, we are worried about the decline in American economic growth over the past 15 years.
Our view is simple: To maximize growth, jobs, opportunity, and upward mobility, the U.S. must recapture the first principles of economic growth that were so successful in the 1960s, ’80s, and ’90s. Namely, pro-growth policies should seek a low-rate, broad-based flat tax, limited government spending, the lightest possible economic regulations, sound money, and free trade.
Since 2000, the U.S. economy has barely reached 2 percent growth per year. Over the prior 100 years, American growth averaged 3.4 percent annually. To get back to the long-run trend — which epitomizes the most powerful engine of free-market capitalist prosperity in the history of history — future growth over the next decade will have to average 4 percent annually.
To advance our policy goals, our committee (still in formation) will be interviewing all the Republican presidential candidates in the months ahead. A few weeks ago we had dinner with Texas governor Rick Perry. This week we welcomed Scott Walker.
In his opening, Governor Walker stressed growth, reform, and safety. During the question-and-answer period, he emphasized sweeping Reagan-like tax cuts. And he frequently referred to his successful efforts in Wisconsin to curb public-union power as a means of lowering tax burdens, increasing economic growth, and reducing unemployment.
Noteworthy, Walker argued that when Reagan fired the PATCO air-traffic controllers over their illegal strike, he was sending a message of toughness to Democrats and unions at home as well as our Soviet enemies abroad. Similarly, Walker believes his stance against unions in Wisconsin would be a signal of toughness to Islamic jihadists and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Walker was also highly critical of President Obama’s conduct in the war against radical Islamism, and said the U.S. must wage a stronger battle in the air and on the ground against ISIS.
He stressed the need for a positive Republican message in 2016, and bluntly criticized Mitt Romney for spending too much time on the pessimistic economic negatives emanating from Obama’s policy failures.
And in an unmistakable rip at both Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton, he called for a new generation and fresh faces to turn America back in the right direction.
More specifics: When asked about a sound-money policy, Walker said he was willing to sit down and learn. And on free trade, he needs a much clearer message. But in response to a question about solving middle-class income declines, he insisted that sweeping economic-growth policies aimed at all groups and categories, not just the so-called middle class, is the answer. He also aggressively defended his controversial University of Wisconsin budget cuts, arguing that they would slow tuition hikes and force professors to teach more.
Why did he leave Marquette before graduation? He saw a more attractive position at the Red Cross and wanted to start a political career. Yes, he nearly flunked French. But many folks think that’s a political plus. And as National Review editor Rich Lowry has written, 68 percent of Americans do not have a college degree. And many of us believe the time has come for a president without Ivy League credentials.
Can Walker win? Arthur Laffer has known him for years and says he has matured enormously from his days as Milwaukee county executive. Others say he is the only Republican candidate with a record of winning many different elections, from local office, to state assemblyman, to three gubernatorial races in four years.
Walker is a superb retail politician, a trait that will serve him well in the early primaries. He has an uncanny knack of maintaining direct eye contact. At the dinner, rather than rushing out for an early-morning TV call, he insisted on talking to every person in the large crowd surrounding him.
The question now is whether he can develop from a tough state-union buster to a national politician who can modernize Reagan’s policies while maintaining the Gipper’s upbeat message of optimism and growth.
Published in General
Okay. I’ll go read the transcript.
:)
Fair enough. :)
I give up.
:)
Umm … You’re describing Obama in most of that sentence!
As for the macro picture, Romney predicted Putin’s actions three years ago because Russia’s in dire financial straits and he talked incessantly about China’s currency manipulation and the disadvantage at which this puts the U.S.
May I also add that the businesses Romney saved, grew and developed were global ones, giving him a specific knowledge of international trade.
After reading Kudlow’s comments as well as the article Leigh linked to, it seems as if a ‘bashing’ Mitt Romney meme is trying to be generated. His comments didn’t appear to be overly provocative or intended to cause offense. I’d guess he’s savvy enough to know that a good deal of Mitt’s supporters are up for grabs, why poke em in the eye?
I came to like Mitt, quite a lot and agree with those who have commended his business acumen. Mitt really became his own man and made that fortune on his own. He may have had a leg up in life connection-wise, but he built that all himself.
I find that to be yet another reason why I find Jeb unacceptable on so many levels. You think Tenant Healthcare gave Jeb 2.1 million based upon what he knew or who was in the family Rolodex? On the board of Barclay’s Bank after they acquired Lehman Bros. – why? Did the Governorship of Florida prepare him for those roles?
This against Hillary!? I take a choice (a ‘flyer’) over this Bush/Clinton echo any day.
Bear with me because I’ve been focused on some biz issues today and was unable to respond as thoroughly as I should have to this.
With all due respect, you can’t possibly be in business yourself or you would never have made such a shockingly uninformed remark.
I intentionally didn’t use the word “bashing.” I’m not suggesting that Walker was “bashing” Romney. My concern is that Walker is surrounded right now by political operatives who are anti-Romney, and Walker is assuming that those operatives represent the American Republicans.
And actually, we agree. Why alienate, if you don’t have to for some reason, the Romney supporters?
I’m hoping Walker’s deficit in private-sector business experience will be more than made up for by his determination to help business succeed by getting government out of the way.
So he has my support.
The 17.8 trillion dollar debt this country has incurred requires more than that I think; you and I both like Romney because of his unique qualifications to save us from ourselves.
I won’t support Walker in the primary because I don’t think he’ll do well in the general and he doesn’t come from an electorally rich red state. The GOP has a talented “bench” but that’s all they are at this point.
There are no veteran players save Jeb but again, I worry about the general. I think our party blew it in 2012 and this affects the financial decisions I make every day. I’m looking to make as many donuts as I can right now, convert to cash and insure every last dime.
I’m prepping for Armageddon.
I like Mitt. I thought he would make a great President but as stated above Mitt along with some of the other candidates keep thinking foolishly that if they are ‘nice’ the press will give them an even break, not so. The press is the main enemy, without their covering fire the Democrats would rarely win. I think his innocent Mormon naivete in thinking that others are as fair and decent as he is contributed to the loss along with viperous Republican Judas goat ‘consultants’ who are creatures of the Beltway and content to lead our candidates to destruction . The people hate the press especially the N.Y Times, attack them every day first thing, call them on their bias, use the hysterical shrieking of the Times as a homing beacon to know you are on course. A Democrat knows he doesn’t have to lift a finger, the press , totally uncurious about Obama’s background, will comb though the high school records of every Republican. How did Obama get into the Senate , the press jackals managed to open sealed divorce records of BOTH of his opponents , primary and general. We need a candidate who understands this and treats them with the contempt they so richly deserve. Notice that whoever does this receives an immediate boost in the polls no matter how far down he is otherwise, e.g. Newt, Trump . We need a fighter.
The thing about the Republican elites is truly that they would rather have Hilary or Obama than Newt or Cruz. Even if they were to deny this and insist it isn’t true and even if it isn’t true, they don’t have enough discipline to not try and damage our guys during the primary and not support our guys during the general. They simply can’t stand upstarts in their back yard. Far better to let the other side in than be embarrassed by our guys.
Further thoughts that concern me about the market:
Occasionally I listen to Jim Kramer not so much to garner advice (he made his millions in the 80s and 90s when the financial world was an entirely different place), but he caught my ear discussing the exhilaration of the NASDAQ this week due to the EU’s decision to basically “shelve” the fiscal crisis in Greece. He then proceeded to warn all stockholders that the market will “correct itself” on Monday after we all have the weekend to fret about it.
Whether or not this is a valid observation, it concerned me for two reasons: Why has the U.S. allowed itself to become vulnerable to EU economic stupidity and what American politician can help us to become more financially independent? (Hint: Keystone XL Pipeline supporters to start with.)
Slightly off topic, but this point cannot be stressed enough. It is not useful to trim or cut programs and/or departments. They must be eliminated and the earth salted behind them. If not, they *WILL* grow back.
I think Mitt was almost uniquely qualified to handle the problems the country faced in 2012. Unfortunately while he might have made an excellent president, he was a below-average presidential *candidate*.
It is so true. I have been shocked at the recovery of unions. I look at them now as some sort of superbug. :)
Needless to say, they served a purpose fifty and a hundred years ago. I commend them.
But the pendulum has swung, and the government unions will be the death of city, state, and town budgets.
I see it as the bomb in the room that going to blow sky high in the next ten years.
I do hear this a lot.
Sigh.
I don’t have an opinion because I didn’t follow the campaign itself.
Not all that impressed? Do you recall how protesters invaded the capital for days, the democratic legislature hid across state lines and the huge financial assistance from the public unions across the nation, spent on his recall and defeating his reelection?
We need a man to face down vicious pressure from the left to save this country. There will be social upheaval. He’s the only man who has done it, and proven it works with executive skill.
I would love to hear your thoughts on the FairTax as the foundation of this resurgence in the American economy. It’s own post maybe?
Like several of the comments here, I haven’t been that impressed now that he’s coming to the forefront. I was cheering him on until a couple of months ago. Perhaps he has to grow into it, but while he may be gaining in recent polls, he’s actually dropped in my estimation.