What the Governor Should Have Said

If you've listened to or read the transcript of the call from the fake David Koch to the governor, you heard the part where the fake David Koch suggests planting trouble-makers in the protests.

The governor answers something about how they've thought about it, but decided against it because it might cause people to support calls for negotiation even more. The chief of police in Madison is questioning the governor's response, and rightly so, because the governor should be enhancing the safety of the citizenry rather than thinking about risking it.

In my world, here's what the governor should have said:

David, you don't understand. The people here on both sides are smart, reasonable, hard-working, and doing what they think is best for themselves and the state. What I need to do is convince the protestors that my approach really is the absolutely best solution for the state. If I can convince everyone of that, the protests will end and we'll all move on.

That's what a real leader would have said in my fantasy world.

I disagree with people a fair bit, but if we're trying to do what we honestly think is best and if we're willing to recognize that in the other people, we can work without acrimony and actually move in a good, useful direction.

But that's not what the governor said, of course. He doesn't think the folks against the bill are smart, reasonable, hard-working, or doing what we think is best for ourselves and the state. So he doesn't think we're worth convincing or even trying to convince, or even negotiating with in good faith.

I think that says a lot about the governor, and what it says doesn't reassure me at all.