It was a matter of time.
It's a real change from the 2010 campaign which was totally about jobs, jobs, jobs.
The 250,000 jobs promise is already off Walkers campaign web site and most of the videos have been scrubbed.
And it's pretty easy to boast about shrinking the size of the government when all you do is privatize or close parts of it. Also easy to create an artificial budget surplus when you don't maintain your buildings to the point that chunks of concrete fall down and kill someone or fires break out.
Even a year ago with the recall looming, Walker reiterated his promise:
Today, not so much. After recently making a comment walking back his signature (and only) campaign promise, he's been forced to confront his past statements about his promise.
Walker was reacting to critics, including the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, who say he had abandoned his 2010 campaign pledge by saying this week that the pledge "wasn't so much to hit a magic number."
In his response Wednesday, Walker offered a more nuanced approach about the promise, which became the centerpiece of his campaign and continues to generate comment and controversy.
(bolding is mine)
Really? I remember all those statements about 250,000 jobs being the "floor and not the ceiling" along with other strong statements about his "plan" (which wouldn't be revealed until AFTER he took office, of course).
In reality, there was no plan just a whole lot of fumbling around to disband the Wisconsin Department of Commerce and create a wholly new quasi private agency filled with Walker cronies with Walker himself as the head of the whole shebang. And then came the stories about the tens of millions of taxpayer dollars given out or loaned to business with little to no record keeping and no tracking to ensure that loans were paid back followed by more empty promised to fix things at WEDC which, after 2 years still doesn't function.
So Walker, speaking to another friendly business group (the only ones he ever speaks to) started walking back his jobs walk back. Note the fuzziness of his previously strong commitment.
He added: "That promise, that pledge made in the campaign was... the reason we focused on it is because we saw the state losing 133,000 jobs before that. And so we wanted a big, bold aggressive goal. Whether we are at 249,000 or 255,000 or whatever the magic number is for us, we wanted to go from losing jobs to gaining jobs. All of our focus and attention is overwhelmingly on not just meeting that goal, but part of my nuance the other day... I'm not going to take a rest the minute we hit 250,000."
Using the word "goal," Walker said the full accounting of jobs created while he is governor won't be known until next year. He added that his administration was focused on helping employers create more jobs.
"And that's why we have a big, bold, aggressive goal," he said.
Even trying to take back his earlier walkback of his 250,000 jobs promise is more of a walkback on his promise. His "promise" has now become a "goal".
Contrast his "aggressive goal" with his own words during the 2010 campaign:
BIG BIG BIG difference now as Wisconsin has moved from 11th in job creation when Walker took office to 38th today.
In office over 2 years now, Walker isn't coming close. And with this being his only campaign promise, it's going to be hard to run away from it no matter how much web site scrubbing or You Tube deleting gets done. Of course, Walker knew it was baloney - he'd say anything and do anything to win an election. And when trying to gently start walking back that promise even gets his media poodles on his case long before he'll have to defend his dismal record in a bid for re-election, this is NOT good news for Scott Walker.
I'm going to enjoy watching him sleaze, squirm and wriggle away from his signature campaign issue. He never talked about busting unions, gerrymandering districts, taking away womens rights, concealed carry, screwing our kids, seniors or disabled citizens or any one of the myriad extremist things he's done since he's been Governor, but he did promise jobs. 250,000 of them (his "floor, not his ceiling").
Stay tuned. It's not even campaign season yet.
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