The Rick Snyder persona remains a work in progress, but clearly
process is being made.
It was revealing to watch his performance on election night as he
basically repeated his stump speech, but this time with a good deal
more passion and more oommpph, too.
That was a far cry from how he performed on that fateful day two
summers ago in front of the state capitol.
Mr. Snyder with family in tow arrived to announce he was running
for governor. His "team" put a dinky little podium in front of the
capitol steps as the GOP outsider for governor launched his far-fetched
and far-out effort to become governor.
The capitol edifice dwarfed him.
There were no cheering crowds, no balloons, no nothing, just he,
his wife and three kids who looked more uncomfortable than he
did..which is saying a lot.
To be generous it was a bit stilted and when you compared him to
the person who was governor, you know the one with all the charisma,
well let's just say it was not a great launch.
He was ill at ease, read the speech that went on an on and when it
was done, you knew this guy didn't have a snow ball's chance of winning
this thing.
Fast forward to election night 2010 and there, center stage, among
lots of balloons, confetti and an adoring and shouting crowd, stood the
governor elect of the state of Michigan.
"Sometimes the rookie wins," Rick Snyder quietly confided in a
hallway hours before he was declared the official winner.
Yep and sometimes the rookie eventually finds his voice, and gets
in touch with his inner self, learns to crack a one-liner here and
there and just figures out he can do this.
Even he knows he is getting better and now he has four years to
keep his mojo growing.