The Democrats. The last time there was a major recall election in this country, Gray Davis was sent packing from Sacramento and Arnold Schwartzneggar ended up governor of California. Then the housekeeper surfaced with the love child, and Maria Shriver filed for divorce. So before you push for a recall, you better have your ducks lined up, which the Democrats in Wisconsin did not. As a result, they suffered an embarrassing loss: Scott Walker won more handily than he had the first time and became in the process a Tea Party icon. Outside groups poured millions into the race, with Walker getting the lion’s share of the record-setting $80 million total. Teachers. The backlash against teachers in the wake of the Wisconsin vote is kind of breathtaking, at least on talk radio, where self-styled anti-intellectuals hold kangaroo court. It may seem counterproductive for a country that constantly wrings its hands over the state of its education to treat its teachers so shabbily . . . until you realize that many of the hand-wringers blame teachers for the state of our education. In a nation where both teachers and students go into some urban schools just hoping to survive, where school boards insist that creationism belongs in the science curriculum, and where the exploration of new ideas is considered a subversive activity, teachers have enough on their plates without being made the scapegoats of a problem we need to solve together.