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Apparently someone decided that political discourse hasn't been degraded quite badly enough and dragged Mr. Perks to Lansing to make sure that job doesn't go unfinished. What's the occasion? Tonight's State of the State address! I see by the lead-up coverage that people are mad that the governor's promise to put a dashboard in every pot hasn't come through to fruition, probably because benevolent overlord Rick Michigan's real agenda this last year wasn't actually about creating Internet dashboards for state agencies. And, let's face it, the State of the State isn't actually a speech intended for consumption by the general public. It's become a speech intended to be consumed by the small minority of people who follow state politics and the media. Tomorrow, there will be media stories about what was said, and perhaps a comment or two of rebuttal. The State of the State is really just another half-inning in a game of insider political baseball. The other side of this is that while we normally consider the State of the State to be the governor's opportunity to set his agenda for the upcoming year, benevolent overlord Rick Michigan is apt to deal with a Legislature that wants to lead him around by the nose. They do have the upper hand and both chambers are filled with people whose chief goal it is to use the machinery of public policy to torment constituent groups they dislike for reasons of simple bigotry. |
