I'm at a loss for real insight at this point in the session. But even if we don't see new agreements in the next few days, I actually believe this session will be seen, at least for a while, as not as unproductive as it might appear right now.
- The actions on energy and smoking were significant. I'm sure there were others.
- I remain hopeful that we'll still see breakthroughs on some of the issues with the most genuine political opportunity. Transportation funding/pricing comes to mind as the most obvious.
- I remain hopeful that some of the worst ideas of the session (e.g. charter school moratorium) will go down with the vetoes, while some of the best ideas (mental health reform) will be resuscitated.
- At least in the short term, this session may "do no harm." That's not bad.
- But faced with potential long-term crises in education, workforce readiness, tax revenue sustainability, long-term care and health care policy more generally, I think that "not doing harm" might be good enough for right now, but not for the next generation. Major opportunities for reform to address these issues have probably passed.
Leadership is about vision, hope and investment in the future. (No — I don't mean the type of "investment" that is only spending money.)
More than anything, it's not the lack of "harm" that concerns me. It's the lack of leadership.