Experts Expound

“A perky Jerry Brown delivered his State of the State Address today. He targeted the education bureaucracy, extolled the virtues of teachers and said overhauling environmental regulation is necessary. Your thoughts?

More notable is that a California governor intentionally quoted Oliver Wendell Holmes, Genesis, FDR, Montaigne, William Butler Yeats, paraphrased Aristotle and described the diet of “emaciated pack mule” flesh consumed by Gaspar Portola’s haggard band of 18th Century Spanish explorers…Plus extemporizing “The Little Engine That Could,” which, not surprisingly given the audience, appeared to receive by far the most sustained applause.

Either I’m getting less critical or Brown’s getting better, but this was a solid speech. Lots of rough edges. I thought he was going to dismantle the top-heavy education bureaucracy before our very eyes.

Erudition meets the common touch. Not a polished gem of a speech, but a raw nugget of California gold.

Sounds like a little bit for everyone. Staying on safe ground without goring too many oxen.

Jerry clearly has his MoJo working, and like a young Muhammad Ali, can still “dance like a butterfly and sting like a bee,” but he has to press for action the first half of this year before the Special Interests get into a “Rope-a-Dope dance with legislators as they start really thinking about re-elections in 2014. Taking on the education bureaucracy and enviros will get more difficult as the legislative session carries on. And then there is water, which Mark Twain said “was for fighting for,” (as opposed to whiskey, which was for drinking). And high-speed rail????? He will have to be the “Eveready Energizer Bunny,” not just the “Little Engine that Could.”

Good luck with that in a Legislature with a Super-Majority. His agenda will look what he was talking about in his speech; the lean cows will eat fat cows and then Pharaoh Brown will wake up.

Forget the lean cows and fat cows. He should have talked about pork.

All the Republicans Jerry Brown hugged last year seems to have rubbed off on him!

Iconoclastic and quirky, as usual.  You’ve got to give Brown credit, though.  Despite his unorthodox and sometimes infuriating style, he wrestled the long-term, systemic budget deficits to the ground, as he promised he would, with help from a Democratic Legislature, an improving economy and a vote of the people on Prop. 30.

He actually told people to stop applauding. You don’t hear that very often.

Governor demonstrated through the speech he recognizes the barriers to California’s future growth and economic vitality. By targeting the education bureaucracy and trying to put more dollars directly into student education he is taking on the challenge of preparing tomorrow’s work force. Protection of the environment has been a core value of Californians. What is not part of that is the abuses and barriers that have been created which were not intended. A vibrant economy needs a balance between quality of life and quantity of opportunities – the Gov proposal to tackle CEQA shows this balance.

He clearly demonstrated that the California dream is doable and he is the one to lead the way. Good job.

As the legislative session goes on, Democrats are going to be less enchanted with their governor. He will restrain Democrats’ programs and they will resent it.

The Governor’s speech was like Cialis, this is likely to wear off; however, “If erection persists more than four hours, call your physician.” In addition, what I found most disheartening was his viewpoint about the beginning of California, where he failed to acknowledge the enormous contributions by our Native American community. The rich culture of California started long before some Spaniard King gave orders to “occupy and fortify San Diego.”

“The Governor set a realistic agenda for this year. I think after all these years of dire deficits, terrible cuts to not only education funding but many important health and human services, the Governor set the right tone for this session.”

In twenty years, no one has ever covered as much historical ground in a public address.

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Ed’s Note: Those from whom we sought opinions include Andrew Acosta, Elizabeth Ashford, Hector Barajas, A.G. Block, Mark Bogetich, Barry Brokaw, Richard Costigan, Dale Debber, Peter DeMarco, Mike Donovan, Jim Evans, Kathy Fairbanks, Jeff Fuller, Rex Frazier, Tom Gede, Ken Gibson, Evan Goldberg, Deborah Gonzalez, Sandy Harrison, Bob Hertzberg, Gale Kaufman, Jason Kinney, Dave Lesher, Elizabeth Leslie, Chris Lehane, Greg Lucas, Donna Lucas, Mike Madrid, Aaron McLear, Nicole Mahrt, Steve Maviglio,  Adam Mendelsohn, Jacob Mejia, Beth Miller, Paul Mitchell , Barbara O’Connor, Kassy Perry, Jack Pitney, Adam Probolsky, Tony Quinn, Matt Rexroad, Matt Ross, Roger Salazar, Dan Schnur, Will Shuck, Ray Sotero, Garry South, Kevin Spillane, Robin Swanson, Ben Tulchin, Angie Wei, Scott Wetch.