Left in denial about Strickland

Read this blog post and try not to laugh out loud (if you can make it through the overly-florid prose).  Brian Rothenberg spends 1700 words in an effort to blame Ohio Senate President Bill Harris for the budget impasse.

You see while Governor Strickland and Speaker of the Ohio House Armand Budish work to serve the people of Ohio Bill Harris is

struggling to hold his troops with a fractionalized caucus divided among those more interested in political power, ideology and special interests than governance.

Rothenberg offers to give everyone special insight:

The reality is that Mr. Harris is not using the Ohio Senate to right the Ohio budget.

Reality check here: the Governor only has a veto pen. House Speaker Armand Budish is dancing a nifty tango without a partner, pirouetting through the thin air to the tune of Pari Sabety’s tin chorus.

The only way a budget can be reached – with cuts or revenue items – is if Bill Harris picks up his dance card, gives Budish a little balance and takes the lead.

Hmm, which House in the GA passed a budget with laughable numbers that immediately became fraudulent after passage?  Which Governor went back on his word and is seeking to implement a policy that is clearly agains the wishes of the voters?  I suppose all those Democrats and liberal special interest groups calling for tax hikes are devoid of interest in political power and ideology.  And Strickland’s unwillingness to give in to their demands is completly disconnected to his upcoming re-election campaign.

The funny thing about it, is that Rothenberg is partially correct.  Harris and the Senate do have an obligation to lead and I have called on them do so by standing firm against gambling and tax increases.  But it is the height of denial to pretend that the Ohio House and Governor Strickland didn’t get us in this place to begin with; as if only Harris stands between a balanced budget solution.

The House basically abdicated their responsibility by increasing spending and one time money in their budget hoping to blame drastic cuts on the GOP controlled Senate. This set back the time table for a realistic budget debate by months.

Governor Strickland then reveresed his long time opposition to increased gambling and sought to undercut the clear opinion of the voters – who voted against expansion four times – by including the policy in the budget bill without a vote of the people.  He knew the Senate was opposed to such a policy and did it to force the GOP to either raise taxes or make further cuts; anything other than to take responsibility himself.

The left wants to blame Bill Harris – or the Senate caucus – because they can’t face the fact that Strickland has failed in such a spectacular way.  They can’t admit that no one really believes that full throated liberalism – of the tax and spend variety – is popular at the state level in economic tough times. They can’t admit that the election of Strickland, and the Democrat majority in the Ohio House, was not a victory for the net roots and other leftist hardliners but a vote for moderation and a vote to punish what was seen as a lazy and incompetent GOP.

If Strickland, Budish and their advisers really believed that raising taxes in order to pay for social services and other programs was the politically wise thing to do then they would do it and force the GOP to vote against it and offer more cuts. But they don’t so they are acting in desperation to avoid the tough vote. Even the Plain Delaer understands this.

Funny how the Democratic Party finds such electoral success and as soon as tough times hit they look to the GOP for answers.