During Governor Walker’s State of the State Address last week, he was interrupted several times by citizens shouting at him from the gallery. They shouted things like “Liar!” “Recall!” and “You don’t care!”
Watching from my computer at home, I must admit I smiled when this happened.
It gave me a little jolt of pleasure to hear my own views expressed, to know that outside the doors of the chamber were thousands of protesters keeping up the good fight against our bad governor. And I liked knowing that this would make the news, that across the country people would hear that Wisconsin’s governor was heckled not once, not twice, but five times by five different people. This would help show the country how unpopular he is, I thought, and maybe even slow his fundraising as he gears up for his recall election.
But after the speech, I watched several of my friends being interviewed on WisconsinEye, and moderator Steve Walters asked what they thought of the heckling. One by one, they each stated firmly that they disapproved.
My friends had been invited to the program to represent Reach Out Wisconsin and our efforts at fostering civil dialogue in the state. Perhaps if I’d been watching with them, I would have reached their same conclusion. It was in my solitude, in the safety of my own home, that I had enjoyed my bit of glee over the heckling.
Listening to my friends denounce the protesters’ shouting, I felt a bit chagrined.
I thought back to the time that Obama was interrupted in a speech, not by an ordinary citizen but by Republican Representative Joe Wilson. When the situation was reversed, what had my reaction been? I’d felt affronted, irked that someone would disrespect protocol so much. Wilson’s shouting “You lie!” did succeed in undermining Obama’s message—after all, I can remember the incident but not what the speech was about. Surely the same will happen with Walker’s speech. But to me, the incident reflected much more poorly on Wilson and all Republicans than on Obama.
Looking at it that way, I have to agree with my friends. Their response to Walker’s hecklers was wiser than mine. If the goal was to send a message that Walker is hated, then that message has already been sent. We already made national news by recalling him with over a million signatures. But if the goal was to ruffle his feathers, then he had the hecklers beat—he’s used to heckling by now, and he coolly dismissed them.
What the heckling did accomplish, more than anything, was to make the anti-Walker side appear desperate and crazed. That’s exactly how Walker wants us to appear. No wonder he kept smiling.
It’s satisfying when someone on our own side voices the anger we feel. But it’s not productive if they do so in an uncivil way—that just erodes the foundation of democracy further…and it also makes our side look bad.
