President Outlines Economic Initiative, Chides GOP Field

On a day when the Republican governor of Wisconsin greeted the Democratic president arriving in La Crosse, that president had some cutting things to say about the Republicans who want to replace him.  President Obama briefly spoke to Governor Scott Walker at the La Crosse airport.  Later, at the U-W-L campus, Obama criticized the field of would-be successors as people with ‘bad ideas’ who will be ‘makin’ stuff up’ about him.  To laughter and applause, Obama quipped that, while there was some healthy competition in the democratic field of candidates for president, he had, “lost count of how many Republicans were running for this job.”

News stories yesterday reported that Walker officially will announce for president on July 13th.  Several Democratic lawmakers attended Obama’s speech, including Senator Tammy Baldwin and Congressman Ron Kind.