On the cosmic scheme of things, this was not earth shattering for
the general population, but it should have moved the needle for
Michigan's first Nerd governor.
After all, what were the chances that a conservative and a liberal
would pen the same story line on the same day in separate columns?
Their combined message was that it was time for Gov. Rick Snyder to
man-up to the far-right-wing of his party before that wing besmudges
his grand plans to reinvent Michigan.
Free Press opinion writer Stephen Henderson noted that it was
time for the governor to start annoying the "radical agenda" that the
right-wingers are pushing onto his more moderate leaning agenda.
This governor has never confronted this head on choosing instead
to trot out his time-worn line about none of this stuff is "on his
agenda" which is code for, I don't want to deal with it because it is
counter-productive, but he's never been that blunt.
It's not his style, but Henderson warns, the governor needs to go
there.
Mr. H. labels it "ideological meddling" and adds, "It's time for
Snyder to draw between what legislative foolishness he will indulge and
what Michigan can't countenance going forward."
Which is just a fancy way of saying, "Governor, tell them to
knock it off."
While you might expect that kind of free advice from the Freep,
to find it in the Detroit News is down right freaky.
Nolan Finley, no slouch when it comes to being a little off to
the right, was more verbose that his left-leaning counterpart.
He talks about how the GOP needs to stay away from "social
meddling" plus "voters did not give Republicans a mandate to drag the
state to the far right on contentious social issue."
Holy cow!
And this piece de resistance: "Republicans in this state must
establish themselves as the party of progress and prosperity, and not
of puritanism and prejudice."
If these guys are right, the real Gov. Rick Snyder will have
to stand up at some point and embrace who he really is, or try to be
who the other side wants him to be.
It's dicey either way.