Pass along a news tip by clicking HERE.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Dr. Strickland Analyzes His State: Ohio Has The Blues

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Gov. Ted Strickland is a psychologist by training -- he holds a Ph.D. And he thinks Ohioans are too down on the state where they live, which is a far better chunk of geography in the American landscape than many Buckeyes seem to recognize. He used a term that means melancholy in nature, or funk.

"We've got a case of the blues. I don't think we're as proud of ourselves as we need to be."

Strickland delivered his diagnosis while speaking at a fundraiser for Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory, a fellow Democrat whose reelection plans started to jell at the event Wednesday night at the Westin Hotel. Strickland was the top draw, and disclosed some state aid is going to be pumped into a redevelopment project on the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati called "The Banks." The governor offered no details, and said the official announcement will be coming in a few days.

He spoke lively about fighting the blues. He said Ohio has "an infrastructure that most state's would relish to have" -- that means bridges, highways, transit hubs. It also means ballparks, museums, symphonies.

"Ohio has everything it needs to be a growing, thriving, prosperous state," and he said the location is "excellent."

He is right. The climate is temperate, the ground doesn't quake, the winds don't roar off the Gulf of Mexico. We don't have massive fires from drought. And we have water -- in our great lake that fashions the state's northern boundary and in the beautiful river that curls and flows on the southern end. The state has a rich history, and its soldiers and generals were most important in defeating the Confederacy and ending slavery. The colleges and universities are founts of knowledge.

Ohioans do need to shake off the "blues" as diagnosed by the governor.

Now: A proposal for the entire Ohiosphere, right, left or down the middle. Can you all post an item within the next 24 hours that brags about our home state? That sells it to the rest of the world, and to Ohioans themselves.

The temptation, of course, will be to make a joke or take a shot. (A Dem line: Why is Ohio a great place? Bob Taft is gone. A GOP line: Why is Ohio a great place? We hold the state Supreme Court and General Assembly.)

Please resist temptation. Sell our state, lift the blues. Bizzyblog's Tom Blumer consistently posts items he calls positivity, and they are always about something good, or happy, or a happy ending. Think positivity everybody. After all, we don't live in Michigan.

6 comments:

  1. Well, Ohio has everything it needs to succeed except a business friendly environment, with things like low taxes and nonunion employees.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anon --

    Okay, we know where you stand on taxes and unions. Fair political commentary. But what can you say positive about Ohio, can you sell it as a place to live, work, rear a family? Anything . . .

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great idea, Bill - I'll post about it. Thanks for the effort. If everyone made just a teensy effort, huh?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jill --

    I can't wait to see what people start posting (if they do post). The entire Ohiosphere is filled with people of sharp wit and intelligence on both sides of the D and R divide. Surely, they can write in praise of our state. Imagine, if you can, Jerid and Matt on something nice about Ohio.

    And I can't wait to see what you come up with. You are the sage one, after all. Thanks, and have some fun with this . . .

    Wouldn't it be cool, too, if some of the pols wrote things and put them up. I'd like to see Ken Blackwell's thoughts, or Rep. Kucinich's. One can dream, I suppose.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Bill - sounds like something deserving its own site, if we could get it going.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jill, an excellent idea. After a long day of left and right Ohio blog-hopping, it'd be great to land at a one-stop Ohio pick me up blog. I can see it now: Jill & Bill's Heartland Blog...or something.

    ReplyDelete