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* Matt Dietrich…
Bruce Rauner ran for governor pledging to “shake up Springfield,” but with more than two years of leadership under his belt Illinois government is more shaky than shaken up and the rookie governor appears moving to downsize expectations ahead of his reelection bid next year.
With Springfield mired in an epic budget gridlock, the mantra from Rauner has turned minimalist. “On things that we can control, I would give us an A,” Rauner declared in a recent public television interview.
Unstated, of course, is that Rauner has found that there is an awful lot about steering Illinois government he has been unable to control as his pro-business, anti-union agenda hit a wall of defiance from Democrats who run the Legislature. And that has left him with a less than blazing record of accomplishment to campaign on.
To Kent Redfield, a veteran political scientist at the University of Illinois-Springfield, Rauner’s downscaled revisionism smacks of a cop-out.
“It’s like the baseball coach with the losing record,” Redfield said. “‘I’m making really good decisions but people keep getting hurt and my relievers keep throwing gopher balls in the bottom of the ninth.”
It’s an interesting piece, so go read the whole thing.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, May 30, 17 @ 12:25 pm
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For a perfect analogy to Rauner:
http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/did-nero-really-fiddle-while-rome-burned
Comment by PublicServant Tuesday, May 30, 17 @ 12:43 pm
Ridiculous. They actually believe this destruction is unintentional.
A better analogy is the Black Sox. Rauner is doing all of this on purpose, but pretending he’s not.
It’s been more than two years– what don’t you get?
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, May 30, 17 @ 12:43 pm
@word
I believe that writer is just another Rauner shill.
Comment by Real Tuesday, May 30, 17 @ 12:48 pm
Rauner (verb): to move the goal posts without warning, explanation or even acknowledgement that you’ve moved them.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, May 30, 17 @ 12:52 pm
“the things I can control”
Because everything else is somebody else’s fault. This sounds suspiciously like the Trump defense.
Comment by Aldyth Tuesday, May 30, 17 @ 12:55 pm
@Anonymous 12:52 … Moved them? They sold them off.
Comment by PublicServant Tuesday, May 30, 17 @ 12:55 pm
Interesting read of the entire article, and in particular the link to the 10 page list of “accomplishments” in these past two years.
Those 10 pages raises far more questions than it answers as far as I am concerned. Granted, it sounds like BVR has accomplished a lot and on the face of it, and without getting into the minute details of each of these line items it sounds as though he has done some good. Yet “the devil is in the details” with each and every item.
What I found to be totally lacking is that there is absolutely no mention of his accomplishments in HIGHER EDUCATION. I wonder why?
Comment by illini Tuesday, May 30, 17 @ 1:12 pm
Word 12:43 — Exactly! If the guv can’t wreak destruction through legislation (TA agenda etc), he’ll do it through deliberate inaction. Nothing drags on this long in politics unless someone wants it to, and it’s pretty clear who that someone is.
Comment by Flapdoodle Tuesday, May 30, 17 @ 1:14 pm
- illini -
“Never mistake activity for achievement” - John Wooden.
Rauner wants activity deemed as achievement.
I know you, like me, aren’t surprised with a lack of higher ed not highlighted.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, May 30, 17 @ 1:18 pm
@Willy - Thanks. I live the Wooden quote - so appropriate.
Comment by illini Tuesday, May 30, 17 @ 1:28 pm
=== “It’s like the baseball coach with the losing record,” Redfield said. ===
No, it’s actually like the Ricketts blaming their lackluster start on the fact they play half the season on the road.
“We’re 14-11 at Wrigley Field, so if we played all of our games in Chicago, we’d actually be leading the division instead of a game and a half back of the Brewers.”
Comment by Free Set of Steak Knives Tuesday, May 30, 17 @ 1:28 pm
- illini -
It’s all good.
When I think of the Wooden quote… and the silliness that the Rauner Word Jumble decides to think is achievement… I do wonder… what has this administration “done”?
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, May 30, 17 @ 1:39 pm
Sure, he can’t control the fact that he can’t write a balanced budget: Madigan stole all his pencils.
Comment by filmmaker prof Tuesday, May 30, 17 @ 1:50 pm
“On things that we can control, I would give us an A,”
There.
There was his problem.
Rauner didn’t govern and failed to recognize what powers he had. He didn’t need Madigan’s approval. He didn’t need Cullerton’s blessings. Rauner didn’t lead Illinois out of our struggles. He couldn’t find the political benefit of providing relief, except to his DoIT vendors.
Freshman Democrats in the House often impatiently wait for Madigan’s approval and are considered mushrooms and ducklings as though they are helpless.
But why did Rauner “duckling”-ed himself to Madigan as a governor? Bruce Rauner deliberately allowed Illinois to fail, just so he could politically benefit from the damage. The more Illinois bled, the happier Rauner became.
I give him an F on the things he ckuld control. We saw no attempts from Rauner to control the powers given governors.
He ailed to control, what was controllable. He victimized himself. He was worse than a Madigan duckling, wasn’t he?
Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, May 30, 17 @ 2:08 pm
== “On things that we can control, I would give us an A” ==
I don’t remember that qualifier in the oath of office:
“I do solemnly swear (affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of Illinois, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of Governor to the best of my ability.”
Comment by peon Tuesday, May 30, 17 @ 9:46 pm