For nearly eight years now Michigan residents have listened to Gov. Jennifer Granholm -- our cheerleader in chief -- talk about jobs, education, jobs, the environment, jobs and more jobs.
And year by year the state's unemployment rate has crept up and up (14.6 percent in January).
Clearly, Granholm cannot be held responsible for the fact that from 2000 through this year Michigan will have lost a mind-numbing 937,000 jobs, 282,000 of those in 2009 alone and 400,000 in the past two years -- mostly in manufacturing and construction.
And despite the heat she's gotten over the economy, the reality is that she did not lead General Motors or Chrysler to the edge of the cliff. They did that on their own, and took a lot of people -- and jobs -- with them.
But Granholm is responsible for the state's seeming inability to create and then follow up on successful jobs programs, lure and support new businesses and convince young people to put down roots.
It must be said -- and recognized -- that Michigan in the Granholm years has cut spending more than any other state. But those cuts could not keep up with massive losses in revenue and the very structure of state and local government.
At the same time, we've gotten lots of talk, but few programs or solutions and little or no streamlining and updating of the things government does. And most of the time there's no money to pay for even the most basic new programs.
During Wednesday's State of the State address, Granholm's last, we got more of the same.
Granholm talked about offering training to 1,000 would-be entrepreneurs at a dozen Small Business and Technology Centers, working with the Michigan Credit Union League to provide loans to 2,100 small businesses, funding the Pure Michigan tourism ads, finding match money to secure $2 billion in federal road funds and the $120 million needed to restore the $4,000-per-student Michigan Promise scholarships.
But hardly a word about where all that money is going to come from or a promise to make some of the tough calls needed to rein in deficits.
By contrast, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop again called for all state workers to take a 5 percent pay cut and help pay for their own health insurance. That may be anathema to public employees, but it likely makes a lot of sense to private sector workers who have lost their jobs or faced similar cuts.
Granholm hasn't offered an alternative with the same kinds of savings, and there wasn't one Wednesday; she never mentioned raising taxes, but also never said how she'd pay for her new initiatives.
She did take a welcome stand when she said she'd block any efforts to further cut public education.
But it was back to business as usual when she suggested creating special "retraining centers" where low-skill workers could brush up on their reading and writing. What? Why create "retraining centers" to help adults catch up when we can't afford to teach kids how to read and write in the first place?
Granholm was dealt as bad a hand as anyone could imagine, but never made the tough political choices needed to really lead.
It must also be said that state Republicans, in a precursor of the national GOP's "just say no" strategy, have done little to resolve the financial crisis beyond refusing any new taxes of any kind.
Senate Leader Doug Bishop on Wednesday said "Republicans have a strategy and stand ready, willing and able to enact it," but that likely means stripping away more employees, cutting more services, closing parks and eliminating programs that help make the state work.
Granholm's address was symbolic of her tenure as governor -- good ideas and lots of enthusiasm, but not much substance.
