Candidate Scott Walker Is No Sam Houston

I was really proud, for a few hours this weekend, that Scott Walker, Republican candidate for Wisconsin Governor had made a statement that he felt the Arizona immigration law was a bad idea.  Walker had given voice to his concerns about law enforcement being able to stop and arrest anyone in Arizona that looked like they might be an illegal immigrant.  Considering some of  the other positions that Walker has taken on policy matters I was  admittedly very surprised.  Even stunned.  But I also posted that I was proud of what he had said. 

Proud because it was not a typical statement that one expects from a conservative candidate.  Proud because I thought perhaps I had not understood enough about him as a person, and even wrote, “ This just goes to show that one should never label politicians too broadly until all the facts are in.”    

Then came the news that Scott Walker made a complete reversal on the issue faster than the Secret Service spun President Bartlet’s motorcade around on “The West Wing”,  after discovering he had taken a bullet in a shooting incident.  While Bartlet was raced to GW Hospital to save his life, Scott Walker was high-tailing it to the politically safe ground where his political career could not be scorned by the conservatives in his party.  

Lets be clear about this matter.  There is no glory in losing your credibility.   There is no honor in selling out what is in your gut to safeguard your election chances.  Scott Walker did nothing to enhance his standing with anyone this weekend on the issue of immigration.   

Which brings me to Sam Houston, the famed Texas Governor in early 1861 who demonstrated that he  knew a great deal about facing tough issues and not buckling to the whims of his time.  Even though Texas seceded from the Union, Governor Houston let it be known that we was for the Union “without any ‘if’”.  Even knowing he was in the midst of angry and emotional feelings in Texas he never wavered from his pro-union position, though it was not popular.  He was sure-footed enough to predict the damage to be done if the nation split, stating that hundreds of thousands would die in a war.  When required to take the Confederacy loyalty oath he refused, and was removed from office.

Now consider what Scott Walker did this weekend.  

When the first rhetorical shots were fired by conservatives Scott Walker spun on his heels and retracted his earlier statement about Arizona’s law.  He gave up his principle for the goal of not angering those in his party who might disagree with him.   That is nothing that anyone can be proud of.  Not Scott Walker, nor this blogger who was silly enough to think that there might be something I had missed in Walker up until now.

I will not make that mistake twice.