A Granholm Don't Come for Free

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm shows D.C. Dems how to do it

With Beltway Democrats in a tizzy trying to figure out how to appeal to the working class, and Beltway environmentalists in a tizzy trying to figure out how to appeal to Beltway Democrats, both groups might want to check out the State of the State speech delivered this week by Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D). In the face of Michigan's 7.3 percent unemployment rate, worst in the nation, Granholm focused almost exclusively on massive public investment in jobs and education. Such investment, said Granholm, would help "transform the state that put the nation on wheels into the state that makes those wheels run on pollution-free fuel cells or biodiesel technology; the state where the research into alternative energies is done; the state where the clean technology is developed, and where the clean cars, products, and businesses are built." Michigan, she said, "could be the state that finally makes these United States independent of foreign oil." Publicly funded research, good jobs, and environmental protection as part of the same package -- you listening, D.C.?