For most governors and U.S. presidents, their State of the State and State of the Union speeches are vessels for delivering eye-popping promises and bold challenges to their legislative branches.
Idaho's new governor, C.L. "Butch" Otter, tried something new.
He avoided boldness and ducked risks. He decided in his State of the State speech on Monday to hew to a cautious status quo line that left the feeling he prefers to be caretaker, not innovator.
Otter totally avoided dwelling on two of the most vital areas of Idaho's growth challenges, energy and the environment. His single and fleeting nods in that direction merely mentioned a company that will build solar cells in Pocatello and a proposed one-time "quality of life" expense of $225,000 to buy 70 acres on Ritter Island at Thousand Springs to complete a public park built around donated land.
Otherwise, he ignored energy challenges facing Idaho involving coal-fired generating plants, dams that affect the survival of salmon, and the power demands of a growing population. He bypassed talk of how the state's unique natural environment should be protected.
Most astonishing, while endorsing millions of dollars in special GARVEE (Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicle) bonds to be repaid with federal highway trust funds, he suggested that he and legislators avoid designating where the money should be spent improving state highways, while deferring to decisions of "professionals."
This is leadership?
Leave it to Otter to insert a parting shot. In proposing a new dairy lab in the Twin Falls area, he said it would research "wildlife that hasn't already been killed by our exploding wolf population." It was an assertion barren of any proof, a brazen political bon-bon for wolf haters.
Gov. Otter's theme was leaner government, the stuff of hidebound Republicans and libertarians who tolerate the existence of government, but lack the know-how to make government the solution, not the problem.
Fluff trumped real stuff. It was a disappointing beginning for the new governor.
