Within months of rising from obscurity to become Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker managed to make his administration the focus of ongoing nationwide attention and to make himself the instant darling of his Party. He turned a moderate, blue-collar, heavily unionized part of the country into Ground Zero in the Republican Party's war on just about everything, brazenly violated the law at every turn with utter impunity, employed the most wanton police state tactics to silence dissent and remove obstacles to his arbitrary commands, and has forged a direct, ironclad relationship with the national GOP's financial puppeteers.
Even ignoring the laughable fraud of his recall "victory" margin - a testament to the true extent of the man's arrogance and gall, not to mention his ability to get away with frontal assaults on democracy in the midst of a highly motivated opposition - the exit polls still had him with at least half the electorate behind him, so he can strongly energize the Republican base. All of this bespeaks an uncommonly dangerous man with ambitions far beyond his current station, political competence to sustain major support among the public despite flagrant criminality, and a level of ruthlessness truly bizarre to witness outside the South or Arizona in the 21st century.
I will violate the cardinal rule of prognostication and be specific: Barring a radical change in political fortune - something Badger Democrats should feel free to deliver in the intervening years - Scott Walker will almost certainly run for President in 2016 or 2020, and he will end up either the nominee or the running mate of the nominee. And if his opponent were some mediocre flotsam like our Party is usually fond of nominating (that we got Obama in 2008 is a freaking miracle), Walker would very likely win big even in a free and fair election - not that that would move him to participate in one, let alone move the GOP frenzied by his candidacy and salivating at what it portends to allow one.
Now, I know we have plenty to worry about with the current election, but I just can't help myself - I always look beyond the immediate, and we as a Party should make a habit of doing so. If you want to imagine what a Scott Walker Presidency would be like, don't look to his Governorship except as the earliest, most undeveloped kernel: He behaves as an authoritarian thug with little more actual power at his disposal than he wields from Madison, so what does that kind of attitude look like if given control of the United States Armed Forces, the Homeland Security Department, the CIA, the NSA, foreign black sites, and so on? What kind of things would a man like that get up to if he could cloak everything he does in classified information?
While we have a few years before the threat materializes, I will say this bluntly: I consider the prospect of Scott Walker in the White House far more dangerous than the Bush regime ever was. He is every bit as ruthless and criminal as they were, but far more organized, competent, and capable of projecting a seemly front to people who don't pay attention - someone who could pull off an internally cohesive dictatorship like Richard Nixon attempted to build, rather than the chaotic monarchy of the Bushian state.
Those qualities eliminate most of the GOP's weaknesses that have kept them from durably overthrowing the Constitution: Namely, the fact that most Republicans are so corrupt, stupid, and selfish that they can't work rationally to build a functioning police state. I think Walker is a more rational villain with an instinct for authoritarian governance, and would surround himself with highly capable criminals - an area in which Nixon himself screwed the pooch.
The danger of a man like this is profound. While it's true that just about any Republican at this point is crazy and malignant, and would be destructive if they got into the White House, there are very few I would describe as dangerous. In other words, they would be survivable. Most of them would blindly tear at this country's flesh like animals and undermine their own ability to do anything in particular with their power. Mitt Romney, for instance, is just a run-of-the-mill parasite and all around smash-and-grab artist whose appointees would steal everything not nailed down while he sat on a Caribbean beach sipping daiquiries. Most others would be various forms of George W. Bush - sadistic, petty, idiot puppets whose main contribution is to embarrass the nation whenever they open their mouths.
But Scott Walker moves in a straight line toward power as if it were gravity and consolidates it without subtlety, delay, or hesitation. He waltzed into national prominence from out of nowhere, created a petty tyranny in a politically active middle-class state with powerful unions, demolished the economic freedom of public employees, and spat directly in the face of the world claiming to have won a recall election by 7 points whose exit polling had it dead even. Most recently, as has been diaried by others on Daily Kos, he has stacked the State Police with loyalists whom he intends to send in to smash ongoing protests against his regime. And he's getting away with all of it. So unless something changes, this guy is a "rough beast slouching toward Washington to be born."
I would hope that Wisconsin Democrats and liberal activists in general would take a renewed interest in examining the details of the recall election, and start planning for the next gubernatorial election - in particular, finding a candidate capable and worthy of unseating him in a fair fight, and who has the backbone to guarantee that a fair fight actually occurs. Moreover, the national Democratic Party should pay strong attention to events in Wisconsin, and begin thinking long-term about how to reduce Walker's future viability on the national stage. I'm aware that he is supposedly still under investigation for corruption, but don't ever count on men like Walker to be held accountable: Expect that nothing will come of it beyond a PR scandal, soon forgotten and passed through unscathed on the sheer force of unmitigated gall.
Of course, there are other Republicans who could get to the White House before him - Jeb Bush, Rick Scott, etc. But even with the damage they would cause in power, none of them concern me as individual leaders. They're just sick douchebags. Scott Walker, however, is a dictator who couples fanatic right-wing ideology to an intense personal drive and administrative acumen, and the amount of damage he will inflict on this country is limited only by the scope of his powers and the scale of the offices he takes. I would hope the people of Wisconsin appreciate what kind of creature he is and plan to acquaint him with early retirement, if not a prison cell. In fact, if legally possible, recall the bastard again, and this time bring in international monitors.