Endgames

We've been watching weirdly parallel events unfolding in Libya and Wisconsin. The endgames in both are approaching. It's probably clearer in Libya now: Qaddifi is going down. But the how of it is uncertain. The Obama administration has been organizing western responses, and the U.S. and other nations are now taking a variety of actions, while positioning themselves to respond according to events. The dictator is isolated in Tripoli but heavily defended at the moment. The endgame could come from within the city, or in a more protracted attack from without.

The endgame in Wisconsin is even less clear. As demonstrations and resistance continue, the phoniness of Governor Scott Walker's rationale for precipitating this crisis are more thoroughly exposed. Though Walker is keeping himself in the center of visibility, the actual center of the crisis is the 14 Democrats from the Wisconsin Senate who are in self-imposed exile and thus denying the quorum needed to pass his budget. All of Walker's efforts are now aimed at getting just one of them to come back. He's trying to turn the public against them (that's not working) and is threatening lots of government employee layoffs which he will blame on them.

So far Walker is losing in public opinion. There are some reports that a few Wisconsin Senate Republicans are backing away from his budget bill, which strips government unions of many of their collective bargaining rights, despite the fact that the unions have already agreed to the substantive money concessions--and the really outrageous fact that there was no budget crisis in the first place until Walker cut taxes. As time goes on, many more objectionable parts of that budget bill are exposed. Tuesday is Walker's latest deadline to resolve this. Nobody seems to know how that would happen, though.

Now there's talk on both sides of recall elections. So whatever happens won't necessarily be final. President Obama, who warned at the very beginning of this that Walker's intent was union-busting, isn't saying much directly, but his statement Monday on not villifying public servants or taking away their rights had some emotion behind it. He hasn't said a whole lot about Libya either. But he's doing stuff on both fronts, looking to influence the better outcomes, the greater good. Sometimes these things come down to who can see the most moves ahead.