Comments on: On Counting your Chickens http://www.buckeyeinstitute.org/blog/2009/02/10/on-counting-your-chickens/ Up To The Minute Analysis Of Ohio Public Policy Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:34:40 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.1 hourly 1 By: Mike Maurer http://www.buckeyeinstitute.org/blog/2009/02/10/on-counting-your-chickens/comment-page-1/#comment-1781 Mike Maurer Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:50:22 +0000 http://www.buckeyeinstitute.org/blog/?p=3713#comment-1781 When you say it's too bad there aren't voices in the governor's office such as Harris's, you don't quite have it right. This isn't a bug, it's a feature. Harris does not have a strategy or a sense of who he is dealing with. He's probably spent more time showing off an "Ohio Proud" hat that the governor gave him after his ice spill than he has thinking about anything that Milton Friedman or Ronald Reagan ever thought about. Strickland, on the other hand, does have a strategy and a sense of who he's dealing with. This is part and parcel of a strategy of creating political pressure to pass the "stimulus." It'd be nice to think that the result will be what you say, cuts that Strickland can blame on someone else. What the actual result will be will be passage of the stimulus, in part because of pressure brought to bear on the Voinovich's of the world by virtue of stories such as this that the governor is helping generate. So, the governor's canny all right, just more canny than you give credit for. And then, the real kick in the pants is that people like Harris (and Voinovich in the U.S. Senate, assuming he follows the usual pattern of little leadership and less understanding) will then go out and say whatever flawed compromise is reached is a good thing and he'll want to take credit for it. Good ol' Half-penny Bill. If they have to compromise their principles, okay, sometimes they do, but do they have to then go out and claim the compromise is in fact a principle? They think so, and that's why they need to go. They'd almost be tolerable, and they'd be showing leadership, if they said, "Look, we got our butts kicked, and this is no good, but we felt we had to do it because of A, B and C. We agree with you it should be different and here's the harm that will follow, but if you want us to act on that, you've got to help us at the ballot and in the funny papers." Oh, well. Maybe I'll start gaming. "Virtual Conservatives" probably has a pretty good market, and we'll need something to do while DC, LA and everything in between burns. When you say it’s too bad there aren’t voices in the governor’s office such as Harris’s, you don’t quite have it right. This isn’t a bug, it’s a feature. Harris does not have a strategy or a sense of who he is dealing with. He’s probably spent more time showing off an “Ohio Proud” hat that the governor gave him after his ice spill than he has thinking about anything that Milton Friedman or Ronald Reagan ever thought about. Strickland, on the other hand, does have a strategy and a sense of who he’s dealing with. This is part and parcel of a strategy of creating political pressure to pass the “stimulus.” It’d be nice to think that the result will be what you say, cuts that Strickland can blame on someone else. What the actual result will be will be passage of the stimulus, in part because of pressure brought to bear on the Voinovich’s of the world by virtue of stories such as this that the governor is helping generate.

So, the governor’s canny all right, just more canny than you give credit for.

And then, the real kick in the pants is that people like Harris (and Voinovich in the U.S. Senate, assuming he follows the usual pattern of little leadership and less understanding) will then go out and say whatever flawed compromise is reached is a good thing and he’ll want to take credit for it. Good ol’ Half-penny Bill. If they have to compromise their principles, okay, sometimes they do, but do they have to then go out and claim the compromise is in fact a principle? They think so, and that’s why they need to go. They’d almost be tolerable, and they’d be showing leadership, if they said, “Look, we got our butts kicked, and this is no good, but we felt we had to do it because of A, B and C. We agree with you it should be different and here’s the harm that will follow, but if you want us to act on that, you’ve got to help us at the ballot and in the funny papers.”

Oh, well. Maybe I’ll start gaming. “Virtual Conservatives” probably has a pretty good market, and we’ll need something to do while DC, LA and everything in between burns.

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