Locked Up
I noted with surprise the other day that the person slated to give the Democratic rebuttal to the President's State of the Union address tonight is none other than the pleasant but utterly inessential governor of my own great state of Washington, Gary Locke. Locke has the distinction of being the only Asian-American governor in the continental US, and has successfully defended his office by beating two extreme right-wing Republicans by fairly decent margins, but as anyone living north of the Columbia River will tell you, the man is a total lightweight. He has trouble holding the interest of his own staff, much less the citizens of Washington, and it's hard to imagine he has anything riveting to share with that sliver of political junkies nationwide who tune in to the "opposition response."
Like many states, Washington - particularly the Seattle area - did great in the 90s and is now suffering a long, painful hangover. The budget is in a shambles, yahoos with pitchforks set fire to the tax code through our perverted initiative process every election cycle, and after 20 years of jawboning, we can't seem to get a transit system built. Homey little issues, perhaps, but not national agenda material. We have little contact with Iraq (although I suspect we are on the target list if North Korea decides to lob a nuke our way), so it's hard to imagine that Locke could bring anything in terms of credible criticism in an area where it is most desperately needed.
When even my friends who hate Bush are asking where's the Democratic voice to challenge him, I have to ask, is Gary Locke the best they've got? Where's Bill Bradley? Or Sam Nunn? Or (heh heh heh) Bill Clinton?
12:15:12 PM 
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