She is the governor of our reddish state and I like her a lot. A lot.
She is hugely controversial, mainly because she is a Democrat in a red state. Seriously, go here and here, and check out the reader comments. Eventually you will run in to comments about her being ineffective, a dyke, or some other irrelevant observation. This two-term governor kicks ass and I love it. In 2002, before the economy suffered a coronary she was able to create a surplus (attention Repubs: without raising taxes) and then used some of that to put into public programs, like education. You know, that pesky area of seemingly little concern nowadays, that Bush put federal mandates on and not only didn't give funds to support it, but cut the money for... She gave teachers a one-time bonus, provided funding for all day kindegarten, and created literacy programs too.
So here is the thing: she was just offered the secretary position with the Obama administration. I'm totally not okay with this for a variety of reasons. First of all, I don't want to lose my governor, who will be replaced by Jan Brewer--who I refuse to say anything about at this time because the only thing I know about her is that she is a Republican. Not fair to judge. Mainly, I think Homeland Security is a bunk job. Okokokok, I know it is important, but I don't think it necessarily highlights her abilities, no matter what those articles I referenced say. Here is a little something from Montini from The Arizona Republic, who I believe sums my feelings up quite well.
That would be tough to pass up, even if she is offered the WORST job,
which is Homeland Security.
The head of Homeland Security only
gets in the news when something really bad is happening. If things don't go
well, the Homeland Security secretary will take ALL the heat. If things do go
well, the president will get all the credit.
Then again, as the
Secretary of Homeland Security she'll probably have a lot more to say about
border issues than she did as governor.
She'd be a dummy to not leave, really. If she goes, she is able to avoid some major budget issues and come out relatively unscathed after we all lose our pants and (maybe, fingers crossed) enough so to run for a Senate seat.
She will be missed...