The lawmaker said he thinks the president is 'waiting to see which way the wind blows.' | REUTERS Ellison to Obama: Visit Wisconsin

A liberal congressman is calling on President Barack Obama to travel to Wisconsin and to speak out more on the labor protests happening in Madison.

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) said Wednesday night on MSNBC that Obama “should come to Wisconsin and stand with the workers.” The co-chairman of the House Progressive Caucus, Ellison added that he would “of course … like to hear more from President Obama” about the efforts of Gov. Scott Walker and Republican legislators to push through a bill that would limit collective bargaining for most state employee unions.


“The fact is, is that it’s working people who are going to be pounding for him in a couple of years,” Ellison said, referring to the 2012 campaign. “It’s working people whose policies that we elected him to pursue, and so, I think it’s only sensible that he would stand on the side of labor at this time.”

Ellison told Capitol Hill reporters on Wednesday morning that Walker was “basically taking on the role of a dictator” in his handling of the ongoing Badger State controversy. “He says he won’t negotiate. That is something that is not in the spirit of a public servant, who just won’t even talk. He is putting himself in a position of being extreme, radical and reckless. And he’s going to fail.”

On MSNBC, Ellison said he thought Obama had decided to stay out of the fray on Wisconsin because of “presidential politics.”

Though he “want[s] to be fair to the president,” Ellison said, “more statements would be very welcome.”

Obama has no plans to travel to Wisconsin — he was just there last month to sell his State of the Union message — but Vice President Joe Biden and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis are set to meet with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka at the White House on Thursday.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly attributed a remark from host Lawrence O’Donnell to Ellison.

CORRECTION: Corrected by: Bridget Mulcahy @ 02/24/2011 12:28 PM Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly attributed a remark from host Lawrence O’Donnell to Ellison.