The Tao of Moonbeam

[mgc1961]

In choosing the oldest man ever to run the young state of California, voters decided that a grumpy penny-pincher is just what they need at a time when the state is so broke it cannot fix park benches or investigate burglaries.

Jerry Brown — welcome back! The man who eschewed the governor’s mansion to sleep on a mattress on his apartment floor when he ran California a long generation ago should feel right at home in the poorhouse of Sacramento 2010. Here’s what your outgoing governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, had to say while trying to keep the lights on and foreclosure buzzards at bay:

“Our wallet is empty. Our bank is closed. Our credit is dried up.”

The only thing not in short supply, it seems, is California schadenfreude. The Golden State has become the American France — everyone professes to despise it, but loves to go there.


Click the link to finish this article: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/17/moonbeam-to-the-rescue/?hp

[bemildred]

1. Another clueless media drone proves that he understands only trite old cliches. nt

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. The fawning in this article is ridiculous

Any California governor has a hard road in front of them, regardless of party. The major asset Brown has is experience inside state government. He is not the messiah. Today he is more of a pragmatist, and is arguably less liberal than his predecessor. He lives in a million dollar home and is going to commute to Sacramento, just like his predecessor. He has many more restrictions on him due to propositions, and a amateur legislature. Unions are concerned that he will do what he said he would do about austerity and cut backs, including wages, pensions, and employees. He has no choice. His hands are tied when it comes to increasing revenue. Court decisions and prior commitments by the state restrict him even further. The state has already pillaged retirement funds and local governments until the people stepped in with propositions to stop that. He doesn't have a defense department budget to gut. So those of us in CA are standing by for the axe to fall in places like education. The Gropenator could not really make much in the way of serious changes, but since Brown has a D after his name, he will have more leeway. As the troops in uniform say; BOHICA!!!.

[Bennyboy]

3. This is excellent. Jerry Brown is the best...

I love his campaign reform. 1000 bucks tops. no hard money, no soft money.

BTW< he got the name "Moonbeam", from Herb Caen, longtime SF Chronicle columnist. Brown proposed sending a satellite into space for CA communications. People thought that a crazy expediture, a "star wars"ish thing and he got that moniker over it. Of course Republican George Duekemagin launched exactly the same satellite later at a cost of five times the original Brown plan.