Scott Walker: 'Live your own life . . . that's freedom'

The boxes are all checked. There is no in-depth discussion of any particular policy proposal (although the thing about Kohl's was a pretty good explanation of why he favors lower taxes). But that's not what you do in a speech announcing your candidacy. This is a speech where you lay out your broad positions and let people know the type of president you would be. Scott Walker did that last night. He did a very nice job putting forth positive ideas - an all-of-the-above energy policy, approval of Keystone XL on day one, repeal of ObamaCare, lower taxes, returning education standards to the states, standing up "radical Islamic terrorists" (and thank you for saying it that way), terminating the Iran deal in favor of crippling economic sanctions against the mad mullahs, treating Israel like an ally - before let Obama have it for failures like the weakness against ISIS, the obliteration of his red lines, the weakness against Russia and so forth.

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For those who have said Walker has nothing to say on foreign policy, how about his clarity concerning Israel and Russia? How about his vow to return the defense budget to the level Obama's own first Defense Secretary wanted? And I loved this:

"Our goal should be peace, but there will be times when America must fight. If we must, America must fight to win."

Clearly, we're going to want to hear more details about things like taxes. Would he just reduce the existing rates or would he consider a more radical move like replacing the whole tax code? On energy, would he move to sell off federal lands containing oil reserves, or would he prefer instead to push forward with leases as quickly as possible? Would he push to end the oil export ban? He didn't talk much about the regulatory environment, so we'll need to hear more on that. Of course I agree with repealing ObamaCare, but I want to hear what comes in its place.

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But like I said, you don't go into those kinds of details in your announcement speech. That's what a 16-month campaign is for. I expect that Walker will get to all this. What you heard last night was a broad sense of what kind of leader Walker would be - clearly, a very conservative one - and what gives that credibility is that in five years as governor of Wisconsin he hasn't just talked about it. He's done it. I find it hilarious that people criticize his emphasis on his track record. His track record is the reason we should have confidence he will do the things he talks about. It's still early. There are other good candidates. Nothing is settled yet and it shouldn't be at this point. But if you're a conservative who's tired of people who talk but can't win, it seems to me you should be feeling pretty good about the new entry this race got last night.

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