Madison: Obama's Waterloo?

Pollock of Pajamas agrees with Belling that the Madison Stand is a horrendous error for Obama & Co. But the last graf of his essay seems to contradict the thesis. I think the last graf's implicit conclusion is the right one.

It is becoming clear that the Wisconsin battle was a strategic political blunder for President Obama and the Democratic Party. The decision by the Democratic Party and its allies to draw a line in the sand in Wisconsin was the wrong strategy, in the wrong state, at the wrong time, on the wrong issue, and executed in the wrong way.

And Pollock then goes through the thought-process which led Obama & Co. to use Wisconsin as the battleground. The usual: Progressive State, heavily unionized, yada yada. He also offers the counter-arguments, including the shift towards blue highlighted in the last election.

Finally--and to be fair, added as an "Update":

Politico’s Ben Smith and Maggie Haberman report this morning how the union’s high risk Wisconsin strategy may come at a potentially steep cost: “Some strategists and labor officials watching the protest conflagration from the outside are beginning to fret that a large-scale defeat in Wisconsin will have a devastating ripple effect, weakening labor state by state throughout the rest of the country.”

That happens to correspond with my thoughts on the matter. Wisconsin is a "must-win" for Obama (although he could have selected Ohio or Missouri instead.) But now that he's in, he must win.

No coincidence that SEIU will be in Madistan today.