Some pundits are right on the money

In the aftermath of the election, I believe by now that at least 16,784 pundits have weighed in with their take on the results. I haven't been able to read all their pieces, but I have consumed more than a couple.

I'm awarding the gold to star to Alan D. Mutter, who regularly writes about the state of the newspaper business. I have followed his blog for sometime.

Mutter singles out the press for failure to focus on the primary issue that seemed to be lost on the Obama administration -- the economy.

"In the thrall of the brainy and self-assured Obama," Mutter writes, "the press largely failed to ask the hard-edged questions that could have sharpened the president’s understanding of the terrifyingly deteriorating economy; sharpened his agenda by emphasizing jobs, jobs and more jobs, and sharpened his elbows for combat with the tough political customers whose singular – and brilliantly fulfilled – agenda was to make the president look like he was out of touch with the growing pain on Main Street.


"Instead, it was largely business as usual for the media, as journalists busied themselves immediately after the 2008 election with such inside-baseball matters as picking the winners and losers in the new Obama power structure. Once the president took office, the myopic press stuck to covering the inside-the-Beltway story of the day – health care, Afghanistan, Supreme Court picks – instead of zeroing in on the things that really mattered to all but the very wealthiest Americans."

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In the wake of John Kasich's election as Ohio governor, it appears that school districts will be faced with cuts in the neighborhood of 10 to 12 percent, starting in the second half of 2011. And Kasich has promised that he won't be raising taxes anytime soon to make up for the projected $8 billion budget deficit.

He could, however, get cute with some of the fees Ohioans pay for various services. How about a $200 fishing license?

Just saying.

Anyway,  Kasich has put lobbyists on notice that they had better get on the bus or, if they don't, get run over by it. I think Kasich wants people to know that he means business. To his credit, he is trying to save a couple of thousand American Greetings Corp. jobs in Cleveland.

American Greetings has threatened to take the work elsewhere because of the tax burden in the Cleveland suburb of Brooklyn and presumably in Ohio.

I will happily applaud him if he is able to keep the jobs here.

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In an earlier post, I said that as editor of The Times-Reporter, our endorsements of candidates or issues were not made on the basis of their probability of election or passage. In other words, we were not attempting to gauge the popularity of a particular candidate or issue.

We endorsed based on the merits of the candidates and the worth of the issues.

I stand by that statement.

There is evidence out there today -- and I mean Sunday, Nov. 7, 2010 -- that some editors endorse or don't endorse based on projected election outcomes. I find that sad.

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Greg Bedard, writing for the Boston Globe and its online site, boston.com, wrote this following the Browns' thumping of the New England Patriots (You can skip to No. 3):

THREE THINGS TO FEEL GOOD ABOUT



Uhhhh…hmmmm…uhhhh


1. The Patriots are still (sort of) tied for best record in NFL: They’re tied with the New York Jets at 6-2 in the AFC East, but the Jets won the first matchup between the two teams. Rematch is set for Dec. 6. Patriots are also tied for the best record win the NFL with the Ravens, Falcons, and possibly the Steelers, Colts and Chiefs (depending on their late or Monday night games).


2. Woodhead and Hernandez: We’ll have more on this in the next section, but they were the Patriots’ offense. Aaron Hernandez was targeted a team-high nine times and led with five catches, 48 yards and two touchdowns. Danny Woodhead had 54 yards on nine carries, and 38 yards on two receptions.


3. They left Cleveland. Always a positive.

Was that necessary? Why the cheap shot, Greg?

Why would you be so mean to an entire city and region of good, hardworking people who can't seem to catch a break lately, what with the recession, LeBron's talent long gone to South Beach and another lousy winter in the offing?

Well, the Browns kicked your Patriots' butt all over Cleveland Browns Stadium today, didn't they Greg?

So, we got that going for us.