Friday Comments

It was pleasant to hear from people after I started posting again. Most of the missives were quite nice and very thoughtful. To one person who shall remain nameless I note I am neither a cross dresser (at least not in decades) nor am I flexible enough to perform your suggested activity.

I guess I should respond to a couple of points. Several people thought I was way too hard on Mr. Obama. The main line of reasoning was that I should look at how big the problems facing him are, if he screws up a few times it is because he has got tons of things on his plate and because the culture he has walked into won’t change easily. Point taken, I will give our new President a chance. As citizens I think we are all required to do that, at least for a short while. I did give W a chance but he wasted it.

As to Rookie and the things I noted about him in the cancer story, I owe him my career and much of my life’s path. Without the Rook I wouldn’t have become a lawyer. Without the Rook I would not have met many of the people who have so truly touched my life including my wife. So don’t go calling him a pervert. Trust me he has just as many stories about me as I have about him.

Oh back to politics for a second. I was reading the Lansing State Journal earlier and I found an excellent piece of opinion there. I will post it here with due accreditation because for some reason I can never get the hyperlinks to work correctly in this blog. This is a Michigan centric piece so those of you from other jurisdictions need read no further.

February 13, 2009
Susan J. Demas: The governor Michigan deserves

Column available online only

Lately, I've been dreaming of William Milliken.

Some girls might fantasize about Brad Pitt or that guy from "Gossip Girl." Me, I like to close my eyes and picture what it must have been like to live in Michigan under a governor who got it.

As more than a dozen folks gear up for a 2010 run, I find myself wishing the 86-year-old would give it another go.

Milliken knew how to handle a divided government and recession. A former businessman, he was attuned to the needs of job-providers. He also knew there was a place for government in people's lives and sought to keep it transparent with sweeping ethics reform. And he (gasp) didn't view the press solely as a means to put out propaganda and had an open-door policy we'll likely never see again.

Our longest-serving governor took a sensible approach to tax policy that would appease neither party today. Two years ago, the current governor called on Milliken and his successor, Jim Blanchard, to head the Emergency Financial Advisory Panel and come up with a fiscal game plan for Michigan. It's sadly fitting that Jennifer Granholm dumped the report in some Romney Building storage closet.
But no worries. The guv has appointed another taskforce to tackle government efficiency this year, so we'll solve that problem right quick.

It's one of the great ironies that one of Michigan's most successful governors has essentially been run out of his own party. After Milliken declined to seek a fifth term in 1982, the bloodletting began, starting with anti-tax hero Dick Headlee winning the nomination. And thus began the grand GOP tradition of right-wingers trouncing moderates in primaries, paving the way for the Democrat to win in November.
Social conservatives took over the party and continue to hold a vice grip on it today. Pro-choice, conservationist centrists like Milliken need not apply. The biggest laugh at the Michigan Political History Dinner last year honoring him was the observation that there were "even some Republicans here."

Many Milliken Republicans have sought refuge in the Democratic Party, although it's hardly an exact fit, especially here in Michigan where labor unions rule. There's really no place for the socially liberal and fiscally conservative. But Milliken has refused to abandon the party; he's still determined to change it from within.
Somebody has to fight the good fight.

That's exasperated many on the left who like to trot his name out, especially on environmental issues. They don't get why moderate Republicans don't just convert. I've suggested that perhaps Democrats don't inspire a lot of confidence when they pick people more obsessed with image than policy, like Granholm. Maybe try going for the best and the brightest, not slick highway salesmen like U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer, D-Battle Creek.

Democrats should demand better and be willing to criticize their own when they don't get it. But anyone who dares suggest this is part of a massive conservative conspiracy, natch.

Look, there's nothing wrong with being a good politician. Milliken was. But he is also, by almost every account, a genuinely good guy willing to sacrifice his ego to solve problems.

That's what we need right now. We need someone who will reform government, not just study it till they're out of office. We need someone who will reform the tax system without being in the back pocket of either the AFL-CIO or the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. We need someone willing to invest in education from preschool to post-grad, but who will rejigger the system, starting by forcing the Michigan Education Association to adopt a 401(k) program like everybody else.

We don't need someone who will waste precious time on partial-birth abortion or gay adoption bans.

We need a truly moderate Republican governor.

Right now, we have potential candidates with glimpses of Milliken's qualities in both parties - Sen. Tom George, R-Kalamazoo; Sen. Patty Birkholz, R-Saugatuck; Lt. Gov. John Cherry; and House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, just to name a few.

But Michigan is imploding and most candidates simply have potential. Granholm, herself, oozes potential, which is why many of us have been so profoundly disappointed. She is exceedingly intelligent, but too paralyzed to lead. She'd rather stay in her cocoon of loyal advisers than level with Michiganders that things aren't going to get better soon and tell us what we're going to do about it.

At the start of an election cycle, I think it's worth it to set aside polls, conventional wisdom and cynical political calculations for a moment. Just shut your eyes and think about who would really do the best job in the times we're in.
There is someone who fits the bill. He is, hands down, the smartest guy in Michigan and is a full 15 years younger than Bill Milliken - his political role model. But people will say his time has passed (and have, in very indelicate language).
I doubt he will run. The former state senator and congressman is busy teaching government at the University of Michigan and performing tympanoplasties on patients who often lack health insurance as one of the few otolaryngologists in his hometown of Battle Creek.

But it must be said: Joe Schwarz is a good man and would be a great governor.

Michigan deserves no less.

Susan J. Demas is a political analyst for Michigan Information & Research Service. She can be reached at sjdemas@gmail.com or http://susanjdemas.blogspot.com.