Up North Progressive

Quick, we need a distraction!

That’s what The Nerd was likely thinking when he told the media in Washington D.C. on March 25 that he’s much too preoccupied with what’s happening in Michigan at the moment but said, “there’s time to evaluate opportunities.” By opportunities he means consider running for President of the United States.

In an already crowded cesspool of bland milquetoast mid western governors considering a run for the White House, Snyder would be a tough sell in this ‘can’t raise taxes no matter how much the state resembles a third world country’ presidential race. He’s facing down a May 5 ballot initiative to raise the sales tax. This tax increase, like all of the other tax increases in Michigan since Snyder took office are imposed on the struggling middle class, retired and poor, but it’s just about impossible to run as a Republican when your legacy is saying yes to Obamacare, Common Core and raising taxes.

Nobody really knows who the Nerd is outside of Michigan, which is obvious when one of the reasons he was in the nation’s capital on Wednesday was to receive an award on bipartisanship. The other reason he was there was because that voodoo math 5.9% unemployment rate the state’s pretending to have (Many parts of the state are still suffering with double digit unemployment) is in deep jeopardy when the Pentagon finally gets around to retiring the A 10 “Warthog” fighter. The plane was slated for retirement before the first Iraq war in 1991, but proved itself so worthy against Saddam Hussein’s considerably less equipped and disadvantaged military, that after Desert Storm the planes were dumped on Air National Guard bases, like Fort Custer in Battle Creek and Selfridge in Macomb County. What an honor! These planes are the heroes of Desert Storm! Providing care and feeding of the mighty but aging Warthogs meant these small bases could be kept open and a few more people employed during the true beginning of Michigan’s economic dark ages by boosting Governor John Engler’s own employment numbers.

Like most Republican economic plans, it’s more kicking the can down the road until people get fed up and send a Democratic governor to Lansing again, where all of the bad stuff can be blamed on them instead of owning up to the fact Republicans only care about helping their rich donors get richer at taxpayer expense. In other words, once the Warthog goes to that air base in the sky for good, Michigan’s unemployment rate is going to go back up. Way up.

So after raising taxes yet again while hundreds of people in Michigan face losing their jobs, making a run for the White House could be just the thing Snyder will do to save his neck. Once he begins his “I saved Detroit” tour of the country later on this year, we’ll just have to wait and see if Iowa is one of his scheduled stops.