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Comments, possibly informed.

Tim Wilson
Daytona Beach, Florida, USA
timatollah@mackandtim.net
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More Reasons to Vote for Ms. Reno

My entry last night (here) about this Tuesday's primary was more about why voting for McBride was, in fact, a likely lose, not a win. It was an invitation for the "we have to vote for McBride because Reno has too many negatives to defeat Jeb Bush" to reconsider whether, in fact, McBride will be as strong of a candidate in the general election as they seem to think.

I didn't give a lot of reasons for why Ms. Reno would likely make a good governor. Here are some:

• She's cheap.
• She's sensible.
• She's a native Floridian who has a sense of what Florida is and what it can be that extends beyond some paradise for land speculators and developers.
• She's sensitive to people.
• She's sensitive to the environment.
• She's sensative and protective of the law and the responsibilities of government.
• She's her own person.

Since government has to be operated with an eye on the pocketbook, I'd rather have a cheap, sensible Democrat who'd do her best to establish priorities and fund them as adequately as possible than a spendthrift Republican who throws the door wide open to the cronies in his party to develop the state beyond its capabilities for growth. Since government requires making hard choices, I'd prefer to have someone who has demonstrated an ability to do that without consulting a poll and without kowtowing to a small number of interest groups. Since government requires enforcing the laws, I'd rather have a proven law-enforcement agent.

Some people hold the Waco and Elian Gonzales incidents against Mr. Reno. I believe that they demonstrated the qualities that would make her a good governor: A clarity in understanding situations realistically, regardless of the politics of them; the ability to make a potentially unpopular decision; a willingness to assert legitimate governmental authority against individuals and groups who seem to believe that their own perception of being right justifies their acting outside the rules, processes, and procedures the rest of us obey and participate in day-in and day-out; and an understanding of the necessity of taking responsibility for the consequences of the use of authority (instead of blaiming it on others).

In a word: Cajones.
posted by Tim Wilson at 9:54 AM