In the comments to
this post about E. J. Dionne absurd puff piece on Gov. Strickland, Joe C. writes:
Yes, the incompetent Ohio GOP abetted Gov. Mulligan as far as the budget went by not crediting the Legis-TEL compromise,
This is an excellent point... LegisTEL probably does deserve a LOT of the credit for the "success" of the budget's "fiscal responsibility" and not Strickland.
the surplus created by accelerating the tax rate cuts, and not exposing the creative budget accounting or price-fixing of health care and education. However, people are missing the strategy behind all this - win the presidency in '08!
I'm not so sure that Ohio Democrats are that shrewd... This sort of thinking is reminiscent of the nonsense the lefties spewed about that genius Karl Rove...
The Dems are not going to do ANYTHING that will upset Ohio voters until 2009. That is why "2-year Ted" was tolerated by the leftists, accepted by "moderates", and protected by the Media - his personality is so benign yet starved for validity and his ideology so malleable that he can be easily manipulated - except when it comes to GLBT "rights". He is their Trojan Horse, and they know that they can make him dance whenever they need.
Now, there is some truth to this... Which is why I think it so important for the Ohio GOP to "force" some errors on the part of Stickland and Company. We have to keep the pressure on...
Assuming the Dems win the Presidency in '08 (Voinovich will be a lamer duck by then for '10), look for TS to be "cut loose" in 2009, when he is no longer strategically important. After that, we will see an attempted leftist coup of Ohio, when they'll have a structural electoral advantage. At that time, TS will be told to toe the party line or step down for someone ideologically purer in 2010. His thirst for relevance will require that he assent - puppet-like.
A lot of "ifs" there...
For the next 2 years, Strickland will govern as Clinton from 95-96 after the Repubs saved him (and us) from '93-94 by voting down all of his (i.e. Hillary's) lame-brained ideas. They didn't care about losing the Congress (it was all about them), he just didn't do anything that would upset the apple cart until after the presidential election. In the mean time, he took credit for anything good that happened - regardless of the reasons (the economy, Medicaid reform) - and blamed the Republicans (or previous administrations) for anything bad (terrorism, uninsured, homelessness). After all, he had the Media (as Strickland does) to back him up by validating the action line for him.
This does seem to be the strategy... Take DataGate, for example, what did the lefties use: Taft did it. We'll see how much longer that excuse works...
Until the Ohio GOP and RNC decide to return to what worked from '94 to -02, I'm afraid that Ohio will become bluer (along with conservatives) as we run headlong to MI/NJ status economically. "Taxin' Ted" won't show up for 2 more years, but by then, it will be too late.
I agree that we need to get back to idea-centered politics, particularly here in Ohio...
