Henry Payne

Governor Mitch Daniels’ stirring, pro-growth, small government rebuttal to President Obama’s class warfare, Big Government State of the Union speech surely left GOP primary voters praying that Daniels will reverse his decision not to run for president. But the Indiana governor is also a reminder of what is possible when voters choose leadership.

Daniels’ gubernatorial twin, Michigan’s Rick Snyder, is carrying out similar, metrics-oriented reforms after years of Big Government ineptitude under Obama’s’ twin, Jennifer Granholm. Yes, we can, America.

Indeed, Obama’s SOTU speech was a loud echo of Granholm’s infamous 2006 State of the State address in which she promised that “in five years, you’re going to be blown away” by her program of green investment, government spending, and government job retraining. Obama quoted chapter and verse from the Granholmnomics textbook.

- He heralded Washington’s failed investment in green energy companies like Solyndra – a repeat of Granholm’s 21st Century Fund and its failed investments in green companies like Fisher Coachworks, RASCO, and Evergreen.

-He scapegoated the Chinese for robbing American jobs, lifting a graph right out of Granholm’s speech when she promised that “I will continue to go anywhere and do anything to bring jobs to Michigan. Instead of seeing our jobs outsourced to China.” Echoed Obama: “I will go anywhere in the world to open new markets for American products. And I will not stand by when our competitors don’t play by the rules.”

- He found a mom – “Jackie Bray is a single mom from North Carolina” – who had been restrained by government to find a job. Just as Granholm did – “Armenia Smith, a Detroit mom who lost her job but gained the training she needed to become a nurse.”

- Obama even invited a Michigan man – Bryan Ritterby of Energetx, a wind turbine manufacturer – to declare that American manufacturing is back. Just as Granholm did in 2006 when she invited Greg Boll of Cummins Bridgeway.

And so on. Eerie, huh?

But Obama did go somewhere that Granholm dared not go: He presented himself as a capitalist pioneer at a time when American businessmen agree he is the most anti-business president in memory.

Governor Daniels used the late Steve Jobs to illustrate Obama’s contempt for out-sourcing, risk-taking One Percenters, while Obama tried to hijack Jobs’ memory for political gain.

“We should support. . . every risk-taker and entrepreneur who aspires to become the next Steve Jobs,” said the president. ” So let’s pass an agenda that helps them succeed. Tear down regulations that prevent aspiring entrepreneurs from getting the financing to grow.”

In fact, Obama has been the enemy of innovators by tying them up in red tape and demonizing the private equity “wealthy” who provide their seed capital. “Having built a small business into a big one, I can tell you that today the impediments that the government imposes are impossible to deal with,” says Home Depot legend Bernie Marcus. “Home Depot would never have succeeded if we’d tried to start it today.”

“Contrary to the President’s constant disparagement of people in business, it’s one of the noblest of human pursuits. The late Steve Jobs – what a fitting name he had – created more of them than all those stimulus dollars the President borrowed and blew,” said Daniels, getting the Jobs lesson right. “The extremism that stifles the development of homegrown energy, or cancels a perfectly safe pipeline that would employ tens of thousands. . . is a pro-poverty policy.”

Obamanomic is a pro-poverty policy. But we already knew that. Granholm tried it in Michigan.

After a year on the job, Rick Snyder is still a puzzle to political pundits. On the eve of his second State of the State address (SOS), Lansing doesn’t know what he will say. Despite a historic year of legislative accomplishments, the political class finds him opaque. Where is he going? What’ll he do next? Who is he?

He’s Michigan’s Mitch Daniels. How do we know? He’s told us so.

“When I looked around the country for role models, the state that popped up, that I believe is a top ten state, is Indiana,” said Snyder in introducing the Indiana governor at a Mackinac Center event in Lansing this fall.

His nod to Daniels is a familiar talking point in interviews. An admirer of Daniels’ business background, the ex-Compuware CEO has adopted Daniels “dashboard” metrics, long-term budgeting discipline, and government-as-a-service-business models.

And like Daniels, Snyder has achieved quick success, taking advantage of Republican legislative majorities to pass an astonishing sweep of legislation in his first year.

Mackinac Center President Joe Lehman calls Snyder’s freshman year the “best year for reform since Gov. Engler’s first term.”

Snyder’s vague, “reinventing Michigan” 2011 SOS barely hinted at the flurry of legislation that was to come: Business taxes cut, a balanced budget, charter school expansion, corporate welfare axed, government employment benefits brought more in line with the private sector, school spending restrained, teacher tenure toughened, welfare capped at four years, worker’s comp streamlined, the item-pricing law nixed, and more.

Democrats howled. Yet GOP conservatives rarely cheered — still suspicious of a man they tagged as a RINO during the campaign.

Now, as SOS II looms, party conservatives are again restive. As with SOS I, Snyder has given little hint of his legislative priorities. An then there’s that fellow Daniels next door who has become a conservative icon – elevated by a presidential election year in which his star rose and conservatives wept when he failed to enter the GOP fray.

As Daniels kicks off his legislative year with calls for a Right to Work Indiana, Michigan conservatives are once again ashamed of their governor. Why can’t he be more like Mitch?

But upon closer inspection, the R2W issue reveals a Daniels who is more like Snyder than the Right acknowledges. Like Snyder, Daniels did not initially embrace R2W. He shied from it. Indeed, while Daniels’ service in the Reagan administration and penchant for quoting The Gipper – both badges of scout honor that The Nerd lacks – gave him quick entry into the conservative club, his gubernatorial record has also been under constant attack for RINO-ism.

There was Daniels’ call for a 1 percent tax hike on the wealthy, his tax on liquor and beverages to fund a state takeover of sports arena and convention centers, and a state health exchange which raised taxes on cigarettes in order to help uninsured families purchase a private health insurance policy with state subsidies.

These controversial plays torpedoed the Indiana governor’s approval rating into the low 40s early in his term – reminiscent of Snyder’s equally problematic 30-something approval rating that is making Republicans nervous on the edge of an election year.

They have reason to worry, says Michigan political guru Bill Ballenger. “The polls are bad,” he says, remembering that Gov. Daniels’ policies led to Democratic gains and a split legislature in Indiana two years after his election.

In the end, Daniels’ relentless focus on fiscal discipline, education choice and economic growth paid dividends. With time, the reforms paid off despite his lack of ideological purity. Snyder looks to repeat that success.

Contrary to popular wisdom, the Daniels role model — followed to a “T” by Snyder — is not conservativism; it is creating a successful business climate. What defines Daniels and Snyder is their executive’s competiveness. They are CEOs who see their states as businesses in a battle for market share. And they will adapt their business models accordingly.

Listen to Snyder in that Lansing speech introducing Daniels:

“Governor Daniels was kind enough to have a meeting with me,” said Snyder of his 2009 visit. “I was telling people in the campaign that you know the largest source of business for the state of Indiana? It’s the state of Michigan because of the Michigan Business Tax. So here I was going down to Indiana (to tell Daniels that) I want to get rid of the dumbest tax in the United States so that (his state) doesn’t get most of the business from our state. Now, if you’re on the receiving end of that, would you be excited about seeing me? No.”

Fast forward two years. Snyder has made Michigan more competitive with Indiana — and suddenly Daniels has embraced Right to Work. It makes his “business” more competitive than Snyder’s. If Michigan’s governor is on the receiving end of that, will he be excited about seeing Indiana as a Right- to-Work state? No.

Which is why I’m betting Rick Snyder will soon be a R2W advocate himself. It’s how CEOs — er, governors — stay competitive.

What kind of car do you like?

It might be the hardest question a Michigan politician is asked to answer. The query is riddled with landmines. The answer must be Detroit-made, of course. But by which manufacturer? GM, Ford, or Chrysler? And does preference for a luxury car indicate the privilege of class? Does a favorite SUV betray a lack of concern for the environment?

The Michigan View popped The Question to the state’s political leaders at the Detroit Auto Show’s black-tie charity event, January 14 (and a coupla Michigan celebrities just for fun). And to notch up the pressure, we also asked what cars they own. Here are their brave answers.

Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville

“A Chrysler 300, a Chrysler 200 convertible, a Ford Mustang, and a Cadillac ATS,” said the senator from Monroe in naming the show cars he’d like to take home with him.

You’ve got one there from every Detroit manufacturer, senator.

“Of course. I’m not stupid!” he laughed.

Governor Rick Snyder

“I’m a nerd. I really like all the new electronics in these new cars,” said the governor as he surveyed the new, hi-tech Dodge small car, the Dart. “You’d have to ask my wife what car she’d want to take home from here. ”

As governor, Snyder is chauffeured in a government car – getting his work done in the back seat as he commutes around the state from his Ann Arbor home. “My kids each drive a Ford Escape,” he says. And then, dusting off memories of his driving days: “I used to own a Corvette.”

There may be hope for the nerd yet.

Mayor Dave Bing

“I no longer drive a car,” said Detroit’s CEO, who, like Governor Snyder, uses the back seat as an office. “But I like what Detroit is making.”

So, Mr. Mayor, if you could take anything off the floor tonight, what would it be? A Camaro? A Corvette? A Mustang?

“Yes!” responded a mayoral aide and whisked the winking mayor to his next media interview.

L. Brooks Patterson

“I drive a Chevy Impala,” said Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, “but I’ve got my eye on a new Chrysler 300.” But you knew that one of Michigan’s most colorful pols was only getting started.

“I used to own a Plymouth Barracuda,” he said of the famous, snarling, early-70′s muscle car. Close your eyes and you can easily picture Brooks cruising the Woodward Dream Cruise in the hot rod icon.

And what would he drive off the show floor? “Oh, I want that new Viper,” he said of Chrysler’s plans to re-introduce the earth-shaking supercar. Alas, Brooks will have to wait for New York’s auto show to get a peek.

Miss Michigan Kristen Danyal

The only thing prettier than the cars are the ladies, chief among them Miss Michigan’s stunning Danyal who we found wowing passersby in front of the Ford exhibit. She was raising money for The Pink Fund, a breast cancer awareness group. The 21-year old beauty’s stallion? A Range Rover Sport.

True to the state she represents, this miss knows her wheels. “I’d take the Maserati GranTurismo or the Chevy Volt,” she said of her dream cars.

Attorney General Bill Schuette

“I drive a Buick Lucerne, my wife a GMC Acadia, and we also have a Jeep,” said the AG describing the contents of his garage.

His dream car? A Chevy Camaro he said without hesitation. Careful, top cop, have too much fun in that bad boy and you’ll attract the cops.

Radio Talk Show personality Paul W. Smith

It’s never hard to find celebrities at the Detroit show. They hang out at the WJR-Radio booth where Paul Dubya – as he is fondly called – broadcasts the show every year. Looking regal in a black penguin suit, Paul W took a break from chatting up celebs to divulge that he cruises in Buick’s head-turning Enclave crossover.

His dream car? The familiar voice of Detroit’s early morning drive wants Caddy’s new Bimmer-beating ATS or Lincoln’s sleek new MKZ.

The Dingells

The lion of Michigan’s Congressional delegation, cane-wielding John Dingell, was on hand in the original electric vehicle – a golf cart – to speed him on his rounds. The Dean of Dearborn had kind words for the Caddy XTS, but his heart is with Ford. What car would he cruise in for the ladies – one Mrs. Dingell in particular? “A Ford Mustang,” he replied.

For her part, the diminutive Debbie – who keeps a flaming red Cadillac STS and a Ford Escape in the family garage – also has likes Detroit muscle. She’d like to drag Big John’s Mustang in her show favorite: a Chevy Corvette.