Those looking to take shots at Gov. Charlie Crist are not lacking for ammo. But they need to prioritize their bullet points.
Property taxes continue to not “drop like a rock.” The state is still one major hurricane away from insurance implosion. There is no gubernatorial leadership when it comes to the manifestly obvious need for a revised revenue-raising formula, one that will expedite the closing of key sales-tax exemption loopholes and get serious about Internet (sales) taxes.
And if you want to go purely ad hominem, Crist can be easily characterized as an empty-suited opportunist seemingly looking out more for the next elective office than a state now in flatlined growth mode.
But accusing him of being a “sellout” because he’s supporting President Obama’s stimulus plan, one that will send more than $7 billion Florida’s way for, among other priorities, transportation, education and health care? He’s a GOP Judas because he’s pragmatically trying to get all the federal help he can for Florida, a state steeped in home foreclosures and an unemployment rate of 8 per cent? He’s a Republican Benedict Arnold because he’s trying to maximize this state’s direct take at a time when state jobs and critical services are being cut and necessary infrastructure improvements deferred because deficit spending is not an option?
And, notably enough, among those skewering Crist for “selling out”: Sen. Mel Martinez. An increasing number of Cuban-Americans must surely find that ironic.
These same critics underscore how much this Obamanation hurts Crist with the Republican base.
So what? The real Crist base is independents. What’s at stake far transcends the usual suspects given to the usual partisan political preening.
Moreover, if the GOP continues to marginalize itself with tax-cut orthodoxy, disingenuous talk of generational deficits and a pander fest, evangelical agenda, it will become the Palin party with no room for Crist anyhow.
Yes, Crist is pragmatically supporting President Obama’s $787-billion stimulus plan and did, indeed, share a Fort Myers stage with him. What the governor is obviously trying to do is leverage this mega swing state and his GOP affiliation — at a time when bipartisanship is still foundering — to cut the best possible deal for Florida.
And it was refreshingly astute for Crist to literally position himself between Tampa’s Democratic Mayor Pam Iorio and St. Petersburg’s Republican Mayor Rick Baker last week to offer thanks to Congress for the stimulus help and to reinforce the rationale for its need.
Ironically, with so much attention lavished on Crist taking GOP heat, not nearly enough is being focused on the much more important question for Florida, now that its manifest destiny is no longer mega-growth forever. When will Crist start planning realistically for all those future, “unstimulated” budget years?