Scot Lehigh's op-ed in today's Globe lays out some useful points about Governor Patrick's tenure -- and about his predecessors in office. Bottom line:
The derisive narrative about Patrick has grown stale. Yes, he's made some clumsy blunders and yes, he's had some rocky going with peevish legislative potentates, though that experience is hardly unique to him. Certainly his problematic poll numbers reveal the difficult spot he's in as the election year commences.
Still, the fact of the matter is that Patrick is coming off a year or so of impressive accomplishment. He's got a much better story to tell than most people realize. It's a story that, properly told, should be a real asset in this year's campaign.
Exactly so. I made a similar point in my Globe piece a couple of weeks ago:
Patrick does have an impressive list of accomplishments. He can proudly point to pension, ethics, and transportation reform, groundbreaking environmental laws, new rules for car insurance and police details (much discussed but never achieved by Patrick's Republican predecessors), and economic policies that show Massachusetts recovering more quickly from the recession than the rest of the country.
... If Deval Patrick goes out into the communities, explains what he has achieved and how those successes are already moving Massachusetts forward, admits that he hasn't always been perfect, has a real conversation about policy differences, and makes the case for another four years, people will listen.
The State of the State address was a good start. The proposals to take over probation and further reform the pension system were a good follow-up.
Governor: don't let up. And don't just do it from the Corner Office. Remember that the media want, more than anything else, a close and exciting Governor's race. That means they need Cahill, Baker, and Mihos (if he doesn't end up in debtor's prison) to remain credible and competitive well into the fall of 2010. Take control of the message, and deliver it yourself, just like in 2006. Lehigh is absolutely right that the story of your governorship is "a story that, properly told, should be a real asset in this year's campaign." But "properly told" is the key. Only you can do that. The media won't do it for you. |
