DETROIT — Early in her just-published autobiography, "A Governor's Story," Jennifer Granholm tells a mild falsehood that is key to understanding what her book really is about.
She claims that immediately after making her victory speech, timed carefully for the 11 p.m. news, she was pulled aside by her communications director, who told her that her running mates for secretary of state and attorney general had lost.
"You'll be the lone Democrat in a sea of Republicans," her "whip-smart" aide supposedly told her.
However, that conversation couldn't have occurred. Gary Peters, the nominee for attorney general, led most of the night, and the race was so close he did not concede defeat for almost three weeks.
A minor point, yes. But significant, because although the very first line in this rather bizarre book is, "This is the story of Michigan during my years as governor," it's not really about that.
What it is about is Jennifer Granholm. Jennifer alone, battling for the state of Michigan against the world; Jennifer against the forces of evil; Jennifer, at the end, putting the state on the road to recovery. A more appropriate title would have been, simply, "Me." Had this book really been "the story of Michigan during my years as governor," it might have mentioned the name of the attorney general or the secretary of state, for example. Even Detroit Mayor Dave Bing's name might even have been in there.
You'd think the author would have mentioned the man who succeeded her as governor, Rick Snyder. Or maybe her party's nominee to replace her, Virg Bernero.
Nah. Not a word. She does once mention former Detroit mayor Ken Cockrel Jr. but spells his name wrong.
What is even odder is that while the book is written entirely in the first person, it supposedly was co-authored by both Jennifer Mulhern Granholm and her husband, Daniel Granholm Mulhern.
Dan, the former first gentleman, appears as a combination of mildly resentful but always loyal helpmate and as her personal in-house philosophic muse. This makes for some of the most oddly stilted dialogue ever heard outside of bad psychological novels:
"Dan softened momentarily. 'You are being called to something more right now, Jen. To somewhere you've never been. This is your crucible. So many factory workers are lost, and this state feels, lost, so you're lost, too. But you're human, just like they are.
'And it's time to just admit it to yourself ... you're not God. So let it go ...'"
To this Granholm says:
"I'll try. Thanks for caring so much."
To be fair, she indeed was unfairly blamed for things beyond her power to fix. The book accurately shows her trying in vain to persuade companies like Pfizer and Comerica not to pull up stakes and leave Michigan.
She also worked tirelessly to save the auto industry and to attempt to attract new industry to the state. Where she did fail, however, was in terms of leadership, perhaps because she totally failed to "let go the ego." She bitterly attacks legislative leaders of both parties, sneering at former Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop's hair gel and monogrammed shirts.
However, she never was able to put together any kind of coalition, in part because she seldom was consistent. Nor was she capable of asking people to sacrifice. In perhaps the book's most telling passage, she admits she wasn't honest with the voters.
"Dick DeVos and I both chose not to tell people the things that deep down we both knew to be true: that fixing Michigan was not going to be quick and easy, that our loss of manufacturing jobs was beyond the control of any governor, that we lived in a world that would never again allow high wages for low-skilled work."
Perhaps understandable, while running for office. But in an utter failure of leadership, she refused to use any of her political capital to do that, even after being reelected by a landslide.
What may seem puzzling is why the former governor felt compelled to write this book.
The answer seems to be that it is aimed at a national media audience. The former governor is now an on-air consultant for MSNBC, and it never hurts to raise your visibility. Especially, that is, if you can shape the way your story will be perceived.
* A Governor's Story: The Fight for Jobs and America's Economic Future. Public Affairs Books, $27.99
Jack Lessenberry's email address is bucca@aol.com.
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