Scott Walker: Cherry Picking Obama

No matter that Walker has out-fundraised his opponent by 10-1 with huge PAC dollars flowing in from across state lines. With the economy snagging and Wall Street flagging, this energetic photo steps into the breech right now to not only postulate a Walker win but to suppose such a scene as a national bell weather.

Echoing the sentiment’s of many, Modo’s crestfallen column this weekend not just hits Obama for failure of nerve (and failure of narrative) but also strikes him in the jugular for failure to deliver on his potential to ignite real excitement and sense of hope in the public.

Scott Walker is not a charismatic figure by a long shot. (If you look more carefully, you’ll see that the workers aren’t necessarily that imbued, either, and the pregnant women, otherwise a symbolic prompt for political rebirth and renewal, looks tired on her feet.) What is significant, however, is how much the photo-op riffs on that old Obama magic.

Of course, it’s not a photo Romney could pull off, the presumptive nominee hardly the counterweight to a building. But the point is (right now at least) that the Obama narrative is ripe to be messed with by a monotone guy (best known for his war with state employees) daring to stand in front of workers, look skyward, and imagine himself the pied piper.

(photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images caption: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker speaks to workers at Quad Graphics during a campaign stop on June 1, 2012 in Sussex, Wisconsin. Walker will face Democratic contender Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in a recall election on June 5. Opponents of Walker forced the recall after the governor pushed to change the collective bargaining process for public employees in the state.)