Hail Mary for Bev
September 29, 2009 - by
A few weeks ago, I thought Governor Perdue’s best strategy was a Dick Morris/Clinton-like series of small, popular initiatives.
She’s been doing that lately, though I’m sure it wasn’t at my suggestion. She has rolled out a series of announcements on new industries, rural health care, nanotechnology and offshore energy.
But offshore energy was the only one that got much attention. And there is no sign her ratings, at bottom of all governors, are improving.
It may be time to stop the short-yardage plays and start throwing for big gains.
In fact, it may be time to consider devoting her next two years to what common sense would tell you could be political suicide: sweeping tax reform.
In today’s media environment, it takes something big to cut through the clutter. Perdue needs an issue that dominates the state’s agenda – and strengthens her shaky progressive credentials.
Suppose she were to spend the next two years – through the 2011 legislative session – pushing for a tax-reform plan that promises to end boom-and-bust budgeting and, more important, pay for the kind of education reforms she would like to champion.
It gives her something big to be for, something progressive and forward-looking. It would focus attention rather than letting the news/polling cycle gnaw at her like Chihuahuas
Right now, Perdue’s biggest problem is that nobody really knows what she stands for. It’s time to find it and stand for it.
Hail Mary for Bev
September 29, 2009/
A few weeks ago, I thought Governor Perdue’s best strategy was a Dick Morris/Clinton-like series of small, popular initiatives.
She’s been doing that lately, though I’m sure it wasn’t at my suggestion. She has rolled out a series of announcements on new industries, rural health care, nanotechnology and offshore energy.
But offshore energy was the only one that got much attention. And there is no sign her ratings, at bottom of all governors, are improving.
It may be time to stop the short-yardage plays and start throwing for big gains.
In fact, it may be time to consider devoting her next two years to what common sense would tell you could be political suicide: sweeping tax reform.
In today’s media environment, it takes something big to cut through the clutter. Perdue needs an issue that dominates the state’s agenda – and strengthens her shaky progressive credentials.
Suppose she were to spend the next two years – through the 2011 legislative session – pushing for a tax-reform plan that promises to end boom-and-bust budgeting and, more important, pay for the kind of education reforms she would like to champion.
It gives her something big to be for, something progressive and forward-looking. It would focus attention rather than letting the news/polling cycle gnaw at her like Chihuahuas
Right now, Perdue’s biggest problem is that nobody really knows what she stands for. It’s time to find it and stand for it.