Ohio Governor Ted Strickland has had a spattering of end-of-year interviews that have provided a glimpse into just how out of touch he is from reality.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer asked him to grade himself. It seems Ted failed to learn anything from the mocking Barack Obama received for giving himself a “good, solid B+” last week.
Asked to grade his performance this year, the Democratic leader, heading into a crucial 2010 re-election campaign, coolly said, “certainly a solid B.”
Care to explain such a high mark, governor?
“Well, it’s because I’m too humble to say a solid A,” Strickland said in an interview with The Plain Dealer Monday. “But I think the affairs of this state have been managed responsibly in the midst of the most serious economic recession in many, many decades.”
Holy crap.
Simply showing up for class never earned me an A when I was in school, Guv.
Grades are given for results. Not attendance.
So, what are the test results at the end of 2009?
Over 1 in 10 Ohioans are out of work.
The unemployment rate skyrocketed 36% in one year.
You’ve yet to live up to your promise to fix Ohio’s education system.
You sacrificed your principles on a gambling proposal the Ohio Supreme Court laughed at.
You raised taxes on Ohioans by 4.2%.
And you’ve overseen massive turnover in key Administration positions.
Good Lord, man. If that’s deserving of an A, or even a B, I’d hate to see what you’d do for an encore.
Additionally, Ted was asked how he’s going to solve Ohio’s job crisis. His answer?
The governor says an energy bill passed this year and stimulus money coming in for new Ohio Department of Transportation projects in 2010 and other purposes will generate jobs.
Sheezus, if that’s his stump talking point on job creation, just hand the election to John Kasich right now.
Somehow, an energy bill and some construction jobs will provide long-term gainful employment for the 303,000 Ohioans that have lost their jobs since you became Governor, Mr. Strickland?
That’s what you’re trying to tell us?
See, this is the problem with the Governor in a nutshell. Rather than try to provide real solutions that will make Ohio more competitive to business than its current 47th ranking business tax climate, he instead continually chooses to kick the can down the road and hope for the best.
Alternatively, 315 days out from the election, Kasich has already intimated that his plan to make Ohio more attractive will include a transition away from the income tax.
Some like to paint this as extreme, which seems strange since 9 other states don’t implement a state income tax and yet still average unemployment rates 17.3% lower than Ohio’s. Additionally, these same states together average a ranking of 7th in the Tax Foundation’s state business tax climate index. Ohio? 47th.
Hmmm….those states without an income tax must be doing something right, eh?
But Ted’s solution? One-time, federal stimulus dollars to pay for temporary construction jobs.
That’s a plan? That’s a solution for 10.6% unemployment?
That’s a joke.
Just like his grade.
