Janet Napolitano chomping at the bit to get outta Dodge
This morning’s lead editorial bids a fond farewell to the Arizona Republic’s liberal sweetheart, Gov. Janet Napolitano. Since her first days in the governor’s office in 2003, the newspaper has been her reliable cheerleader.
Now that it appears she is on the inside track for Secretary of Homeland Security in the Obama administration, the newspaper sends her off with a tear in its eye, a lump in its throat and an undisguised anticipation that she will return again.
The sycophantic editorial ends with these words:
Napolitano showed Arizona what she can accomplish through hard work and dogged determination. Now she can show the nation. We’ll say congratulations. We won’t say goodbye.
Republicans, on the other hand, will be more than happy to say “Adios.” Napolitano has shown herself to be contentious and unwilling to deal on tough issues. Her veto pen got a workout never before replicated in the history of the state. She will be leaving Arizona with staggering debt. Current projections for fiscal year 2009 show the state’s budget deficit at an estimated $1.2 billion. This projection comes just a month after Napolitano said an $850 million shortfall was a worst-case scenario, according to a report by Capitol Media Services.
If the current trend continues, the deficit could be as high as $2 Billion by the end of the fiscal year which ends in July. Byron Schlomach, Ph.D of The Goldwater Institute weighs in on the seriousness of the fiscal problems with which she is leaving the state.
*With apologies to Rod Serling.
November 21, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I understand there’s been some discussion of a parting gift to Napolitano. One man apparently has already volunteered to build a 51-foot fence for her.
In these trying economic times, may I volunteer a more reasonably priced farewell gift option? I think the people of the state of Arizona ought to present Napolitano with a purse… with a hole in the bottom.
Such a gift would be entirely symbolic of Napolitano’s exercise of fiscal responsibility while governor of the state of Arizona.
November 21, 2008 at 1:53 pm
RA:
You outdid yourself on this response! Very good!
November 21, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Thank you, Maggie. You’re very kind.
I did think about advocating a gift to Napolitano of a leaky umbrella as a sort of memento mori for the state’s “rainy day fund,” but thought that the purse was more of a gift that keeps on taking.
November 21, 2008 at 3:29 pm
She only carries a purse for the sake of appearances. The purse, lipstick and the omnipresent pearls are props.
November 21, 2008 at 6:44 pm
RA and Tex, you’re making my night! A fitting farewell would be “adios” since it’s clear where her sympathies lie.
November 22, 2008 at 10:17 am
While it is, indeed, refreshing news that Napolitano is outta here, it bodes poorly for the U.S. as she is now the Number One fox in charge of the chicken pen.
Now she can open the entire national border to the Mexican invasion instead of just Arizona’s. As a state we should have contained this committed lefty, now she will have the ideal launching pad to bring our culture to its knees.
The phrase should be, “Adios Americana.”
November 22, 2008 at 10:23 am
Napolitano worked hard to socialize Arizona as a rehearsal for gaining the big stage, the whole of the U.S. Her efforts were noticed by the power elite running the country and this Janet Reno clone got elevated to Insider status. The North American Union can’t bee too far behind.
November 24, 2008 at 1:47 pm
[...] daily has been on a constant roll extolling the wonders of the likelihood of Gov. Napolitano’s appointment to the Obama Cabinet [...]