foolmenot.comThis is what it has come to… An administration that, by its own doing can be made fun of… An administration that, by its own doing is causing Michigan to be made fun of, not just criticized, but to be made fun of…
Liberal enthusiasts will of course counter with the usual mean-spirited rhetoric, following the likes of Democratic leaders in congress, but this time it may be different. The proof is in the pudding… Real Michigan citizens who are Democrats, Republicans, and fence-sitters, know what is happening not just “around the country”, but in every [other] state in the Nation.
If Dick DeVos comes out with a clearly articulated plan to bring Michigan back, attempts to portray the clear thinking citizens of this state as ignorant of their surrounding will ultimately fail. Why; because Governor Granholm has no plan. She has only hope; hope based upon words, not action- hope based upon ambiguity, not clarity- hope based upon keeping people naďve, not genuinely informed… Read her state of the state speech- it’s the same as last years; only the words have been changed to protect the [guilty}!
Full article follows…
January 27, 2006
In a farcically gory scene from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," a Black Knight (played by comedian John Cleese) challenges King Arthur's right to cross a bridge. The annoyed king responds by drawing his trusty Excalibur and, after a comically one-sided swordfight, reduces his adversary to a limbless torso.
But the Black Knight fights on. "Come on, then," he taunts the astonished Arthur, bouncing gamely on his shorn-off thighs. "It's only a flesh wound!"
Jennifer Granholm is Michigan's Black Knight, a bravura combination of breathless optimism and breathtaking denial served up in a blue blazer. Tuesday night, delivering her self-graded report card in the wake of unprecedented corporate bloodletting, she scarcely acknowledged the carnage at her feet, harkening instead to a Michigan still aborning.
"This is about a Michigan whose engineers can harness the power in alternative fuels, whose doctors will develop cures for cancer, whose businesspeople are excited this very minute about designing offices, creating jobs and selling products that we don't even have a name for," the governor gushed.
Her glass wasn't just half-full; it was sloshing over the rim. Outside the state Capitol, the chill winds of globalization might be howling, but in the House chamber where Granholm delivered her fourth State of the State address, all was merry and bright. The state flag hung limp in the placid air and the only sound from abroad was the murmur of Chinese consumers clamoring for the "Made in Michigan" label.
It's tempting to wonder aloud, as most of her Republican critics did, what parallel universe the governor was speaking from.
Who, for example, were the 99,000 people Granholm claimed have joined the ranks of Michigan's employed since she took office in 2002? Twenty-somethings, come to claim their lofts and well-paying jobs in our nascent cool cities? Or retirees, prowling for piecework in the wake of corporate reorganizations that wiped out their pensions and medical benefits?
"The simple fact is -- Michigan is in a crisis right now," Granholm's Republican rival Dick DeVos countered in a statement webcast Thursday afternoon. "Everyone you talk to has a friend, a neighbor or a loved one who has lost a job. ... We are at the bottom of the pack in every economic measure."
Talk about a Gloomy Gus! This is the stark gubernatorial choice Michiganders are facing next November: Gov. Pollyanna or Mr. Downer Cow.
A lot of us are still adjusting to this partisan role reversal. I'm still not sure what to make of Republicans who say the middle class is going to hell in a handbasket, or Democrats who channel Ronald Reagan when they're not lobbying for national health insurance or a minimum-wage hike.
My gut tells me that Granholm's eternal sunshine is beginning to wear thin with her worried constituents.
Then again, that Gipper fellow from California knew a secret about us skeptics: Deep down, even the most cynical among us is dying to believe it's really morning in Michigan.
Contact BRIAN DICKERSON at 248-351-3697 or bdickerson@freepress.com