Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose

Been having a lot of bodywork done to fix my bad back that has left me exhausted, so I'm late with a Wisconsin retrospect. Much has already been said on the subject. In some cases, perhaps a bit too much finger pointing and overthinking in trying to pin the blame to fit a personal agenda.

Yes, we lost this one. Sure mistakes were made. We were astronomically outspent. National Democratic machine failed to invest in the race and so on. But in reading Charlie's on the ground coverage, it seems pretty clear to me there simply wasn't enough buyer's remorse to kick Walker out. They did elect him in the first place and the outrage and passion cooled in the time it took for the system to work. Not for nothing, did the GOP use every procedural trick in the book to delay the recall. Trial lawyers widely use this same ploy for precisely the same reason.

As I said before, losing sucks. But this was just one small sortie in a much longer battle for the heart and soul of our country. Barrett voters have every reason to be proud. I'm certainly proud of them. They put up a good hard fight. They made the plutocrats pay dearly for a race that they would have won on the cheap if they hadn't engaged. And now we better know our opponents. That's valuable knowledge for the long war.

Nobody wins every single time. When you lose, you regroup and fight again another day. The way forward is pretty clear to me. Even if imminent loss is predictable, the brave and honorable choice is to go down fighting. The only other option is surrender. Never going to win that way.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]