Jerry Brown’s speech at the state Democratic convention was apparently well received, and his gimmicky call for a three-way debate got him a lot of good press. But if you want to see Brown’s essential problem — his inability to articulate a real vision for the future of the state, and his utter cluelessness on tax issues — check out this somewhat alarming video that Sweet Melissa captured at a NARAL event April 11. His answer to a Prop. 13 question was rambling, incoherent, and completely off point. Not good news.
I mean, Meg Whitman has already poured $60 million of her own money into the race, and now she’s getting ready to put in more. Why? Because despite spending more cash than the gross national product of some small countries, all she’s been able to do is pull even with Brown at about 42 percent. Nobody in California who has any access to media can have missed Whitman’s blitz; she’s got her name recognition up, and everyone knows what her message is. But so far, a majority of the state isn’t buying it.
So Brown has a chance here. He can tag Whtman as a friend of Goldman Sachs, as an example of everything that’s wrong with American politics and finance, as another Schwarzenegger (whose ratings are in the toilet) and as someone who doesn’t offer any credible solutions to the state’s problems.
But first Brown needs to offer some credible solutions himself. And he’s not doing it.