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Michigan Governor's Race: The Cardboard Candidates Barrett Kalellis Michigan's two gubernatorial candidates had their first hourlong debate Monday evening and it was a miserable and depressing spectacle. I suppose each candidate's handlers thought their guy did fine, but that only goes to show you how far we have devolved in our election process, where image is everything and content is fungible. Incumbent Democrat Governor Jennifer Granholm and Republican challenger Dick DeVos tried to bat questions lobbed at them by reporters Tim Skubik and Charlie Cain, but there was an air of surrealism about the entire event. One got the impression that their answers to the questions did not really matter, but the style and panache with which they answered them (or not) was more important. After the predictable elbowing each other about misleading campaign ads, the answers to substantive questions was thin gruel indeed. The key question in Michigan, of course, was what the next regime in Lansing would do to turn around the state's sagging economy, which is hemorrhaging manufacturing jobs on account of the collapsing fortunes of what used to be known as the Big Three automakers. Neither candidate had an answer to this question except to speak in generalities. Granholm thinks that by "investing" more taxpayer dollars in the education system to produce highly skilled workers and by jawboning out-of-state or offshore companies to come here because we like all things high-tech — well, that will solve the problem. The trouble is that these fuzzy panaceas seem more theoretical than realistic upon close examination. Why should the state spend tax dollars to pay people to go to college if there are no jobs for them when they graduate? How long would it take for this "investment" to pay off? Suppose the graduates decide to take jobs in other states? In any case, it doesn't seem like a short-term solution to today's problems; rather, it sounds like another ill-conceived spending program that sounds nice, which is her party's wont. What limited success Granholm has had in bringing new business to Michigan pales in comparison to the businesses that are leaving the state or have finessed it entirely. There is a whopping good reason that auto manufacturers like Honda, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and others have located their new facilities in other states, namely, that Michigan is perceived as a high-cost, heavily unionized state in which to do business. Unless this perception changes, all the auto-related businesses will continue to relocate elsewhere, if they want to stay in business. This issue, of course, was not addressed in the debate.
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On the other hand, businessman Dick DeVos, the president of Alticor (formerly Amway Corp.), asked voters to elect him on the basis of his big-wheel leadership qualities, as yet unproven in the political arena. But he, too, had no real answers to Michigan's auto industry problems, other than a promise to make the state more business-friendly, presumably by keeping taxes and burdensome regulations at bay. Granholm tried to blame her current problems on her predecessor and his nefarious Republican policies; DeVos was reduced to simply asking for voter faith. Whether you believe them or not, they both are trying to project an image, and it is with this image they expect you to cast your vote. A trained trial lawyer, Granholm is readily comfortable in public speaking venues; DeVos is not. In fact, DeVos' consultants should be pilloried for his pitiful showing. He seemed most ill at ease in this setting — nervously smiling in the wrong places — and jumping back and forth in his answers as if he forgot where he was in his canned stump speech. If nothing else, Granholm is quick-witted and can extemporize to fit the situation. DeVos, rather than speak with conviction, gives the impression that he has been warned to "stay on message." If he cannot inspire voters that he has a profound understanding of the issues and that he has proven ability to solve intractable problems, then he will not be able to convince them that he is their man. All the repetitive prattle about "leadership" will just be hot air.
Granholm did her best to paint Dick DeVos as the George W. Bush of Michigan. DeVos, unfortunately, like Dubya, seemed uncomfortable delivering what surely were scripted answers written by advisers. When Granholm tossed a slimeball question about his investment in a questionable nursing home chain, DeVos was caught off-guard and stumbled through a prepared response, instead of showing righteous indignation at the low blow. If DeVos wants to win this election, he'd better find some new advisers, ones who understand that voters really want — and expect — substance over style. And a candidate who can speak from the heart, instead of relying on vapid and empty canned platitudes. Barrett Kalellis is a Michigan-based columnist, writer and pundit for NewsMax.com, whose articles appear regularly in various local and national print and online publications.
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