Two editorials against the Walker recall – one from the Right, one from the Left.

First, Charles Lane in the Washington Post:

I had supposed that Walker’s victory in 2010, along with the victory of Republicans in both houses of the state legislature, entitled the people’s choices to make policy until the next election.

I had not realized that Wisconsin’s voters were allowed to elect representatives to do everything except change the rules on collective bargaining.

“But Walker never campaigned on curtailing union rights!” his opponents cry. What rule of American democracy says that public officials may do only what they explicitly promised before taking office, and nothing else? By that logic, President Obama could be impeached because he opposed an individual mandate to buy health insurance during the campaign, then supported it in office.

Hat tip Charlie Sykes.

Next, Richard Foster, a member of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s editorial board:

I sometimes think I am the only liberal Democrat in Wisconsin who opposes the recall of Gov. Scott Walker. It is not that I endorse the policies Walker and his legislative allies have adopted. Far from it. Walker’s campaign to destroy public-sector unions is particularly despicable. But those policies, horrendous as they are, do not justify removing him from office before his term expires.

I thought it was generally agreed that removing an elected official – a governor, a president, a mayor, whatever – before his or her scheduled re-election is an extraordinarily rare and grave step. You don’t remove an officeholder before an election simply because you disagree with his or her official acts.

Hat tip Fred Dooley.

UPDATE - Purple Penguin links and comments. My response (in a comment on his blog):

My post was only pointing out recall opposition from both sides. While you’re right that Wisconsin law doesn’t limit recalls to criminal (or otherwise unsavory) acts, just imagine if both sides were able to generate enough signatures to make recalls common. Do we really want our elected officials to be constantly waging campaigns?