by P.D. Lesko

Bill Ballenger, editor of Inside Michigan Politics, a statewide political newsletter, was kind in his response concerning Governor Rick Snyder’s comments to the media concerning a possible 2014 run for re-election. Ballenger told the Lansing State News: “Why he gets into this game with the news media … is a mystery to me,” Ballenger said. “He doesn’t have to make any kind of announcement.”

First, Michigan’s Republican Governor told the Associated Press that “he wasn’t tied to running for a second term if he’s gotten done in four years what he set out to do, but didn’t rule out seeking re-election.” The Associated Press then published Snyder’s comments. Then, a month later, Snyder announced during a speech that “he remains committed to the ’10-year plan’ he developed with his family. That included two years of campaigning and eight years as governor.”

Can Rick Snyder look any more inept and arrogant? If he had a 10-year plan that he developed with his family, why did he tell the Associated Press he wasn’t “tied to running for a second term?” To make matters worse, he then pimped out his Press Secretary Sara Wurfel to “explain” to the media that, “earlier remarks he made that he would not seek a second term if he completed his agenda in four years were misinterpreted.”

Misinterpreted? Hardly. Snyder put his foot in his mouth and the Associated Press wrote it up and the story launched a firestorm of speculation. Now, Snyder looks like a fool, and not only because he backtracked and tried to make it appear as though the AP reporter didn’t understand the phrase “not tied to running for a second term.” Michigan’s Governor is neck deep in an economic tar pit and already talking about running for re-election 10 months into a 4 year term, “if the voters will have him?” There are hundreds of thousands of voters who signed petitions aimed at getting rid of Snyder now. The Chicago Tribune published a piece on October 10th about a recent survey of Michigan voters concerning President Obama’s job approval ratings. The President, alas, is not a very popular guy in our state at the moment. However, the only pol with job approval ratings that are lower than President Obama’s in Michigan is Governor Rick Snyder. Only 33 percent of Michigan residents believe Snyder is taking the state in the right direction, according to that recent poll.

It’s not a question of whether the voters will have him for a second term, but rather if Michigan’s middle-class workers, K-12 education system and state economy can survive three more years of a political charlatan who ran for office based, in part, on a “job creation” myth that was a lie.

Snyder’s own Michigan Dashboard reads like a copy of The Naked and The Dead. It still costs taxpayers in our state more to run local and state government as a percentage of the state’s gross domestic product than it does in Virginia, Ohio and Washington. Infant mortality is up since Snyder took office, and third grade reading proficiency levels are down. While more high school graduates are academically prepared to go on to college, the overall percentage of students who are academically prepared to do is abysmally low—10-12 percent of the state’s high school grads.

In the 10 months the man who ran his campaign on the promise of “job creation” has been in office, unemployment has risen, and remains well above the national unemployment rate. Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer posted a piece to the group’s Facebook page titled, “Zero, Zilch, Nada, None: Jobs Brought to Michigan from Asia by Governor Snyder.” Yeah, well, the Michigan GOP could just as easily post a piece to its Facebook page titled, “Zero, Zilch, Nada, None: Jobs Brought to Michigan from Asia (or Anywhere Else) by Democrats in Michigan Legislature.”

The only politico more unpopular in Michigan than Rick Snyder may be Mark Brewer. Detroit News columnist Darrell Dawsey wrote in a February 2011 column, “But for years now, progressives in the party have worried that he’s too ‘corporate,” too tied the relatively conservative national Democratic Leadership Committee. Meanwhile, gubernatorial candidate Virg Bernero’s loss to Rick Snyder and GOP wins in the state legislature have others questioning Brewer’s mojo.”

That “too corporate” thing reared its ugly head when Brewer decided the MDP would refuse to back the efforts of citizen groups to recall Rick Snyder and a gaggle of Republican legislators. In May 2011, A2Politico writer Chris Savage posted a piece to FireDogLake titled “The Difference Between Wisconsin and Michigan.” Chris writes:

Much of the Democrats traditional base is on board with the recalls and EFM law repeal, too. Unions, in particular, have had a strong presence at recent protests of Snyder at the University of Michigan when Snyder gave the commencement speech and in the Blossomtime Parade in St. Joseph/Benton Harbor where Snyder was the Grand Marshal. Snyder’s budget, which will likely be passed in late May/early June, disproportionately impacts poor folks and students, more groups that have long been strong supporters of Democrats. In fact, this timidity on the part of the Michigan Democratic Party is eerily reminiscent of the timidity many on the left were so angry about with Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats leading up to the 2010 midterm election.

So why on earth is Governor Rich Snyder (as political analyst Rachel Maddow delights in referring to him) already talking about whether or not he’s planning to run for re-election? Governor Snyder, it appears, has little else to talk about. In a September 19, 2011 interview, he told a reporter that “the majority of the state supports his efforts.” Someone needs to point out to the Nerd-in-Chief that a 33 percent job approval rating is not quite a majority, and that before he bellies up to the political buffet for another term, he should realize that since he took office 10 months ago more people in Michigan are hungry,  homeless, and without jobs. In addition, a higher percentage of infants die at birth and fewer high school graduates than ever are prepared to tackle the coursework at local colleges and universities.

At the Detroit Regional Chamber’s three-day Mackinac policy conference, a political mosh pit, where well-fed and well-paid politicos roll in money and offer up children, education and the middle class as human sacrifices to the Gods of Bidness, Snyder told those in attendance: “Michigan needs a statewide attitude adjustment that includes harnessing the power of positive thinking while it undergoes a sometimes painful economic revival.” It’s like listening to Professor Harold Hill preach his Think Method. In Snyder’s political universe, if Michigan’s growing numbers of hungry children just Think Positively about food, their stomachs won’t grumble and they won’t be listless in class. If homeless families just Think Positively about having shelter, the rain and cold won’t chill them to the bone. If the state’s long-term unemployed residents just Think Positively high-paying, secure jobs will appear.

On September 22, 2011, in a 20-minute speech delivered to business leaders, Snyder told the 550 people gathered to hear him, “We need relentless, positive action — it’s an attitude where everything is about solving the problem….He said it’s time to stop pointing fingers and placing blame.”

That’s just about what you would expect a politico who hasn’t made much tangible progress turning around Michigan’s economy to say. That and, “he remains committed to the ’10-year plan’ he developed with his family. That included two years of campaigning and eight years as governor.”

The Think Method: It worked for Professor Harold Hill and River City, Iowa in “The Music Man.” However, Snyder’s Think Method won’t help Michigan’s middle-class, hungry, homeless and jobless residents. Michigan voters realize this. That’s why he remains the most the governor with the most abysmal job approval ratings in the entire United States. It’s also why Michigan’s economy remains hopelessly mired down by “job creation” schemes steeped in the same crony capitalism Snyder practiced as the head of Ann Arbor SPARK.