It’s too bad the Taft administration led such a corrupt and tax heavy machine in Ohio over the year and set Republican candidate Ken Blackwell up for a resounding loss in the Governor’s race last fall. I believe Mr. Blackwell would have made a fine leader and fine Governor.

Michael Philips at OpinionJournal’s Political Diary comments on Strickland:

Ohioans are beginning to suspect that in electing Democratic Governor Ted Strickland last fall, they elected someone better suited to be a critic of leadership than a leader in his own right.

When asked on Valentine’s Day if Ohio would welcome some of the 7,000 Iraqi refugees the U.S. recently agreed to accept, Gov. Strickland’s response was hardly in the spirit of the holiday: “I think Ohio and Ohioans have contributed a lot to Iraq in terms of blood, sweat and too many tears. I am sympathetic to the plight of the innocent Iraqi people who have fled the country. However, I would not want to ask Ohioans to accept a greater burden than they already have borne for the Bush administration’s failed policies.”

USA Today rightly called this response “heartless,” as did many of the local Ohio editorial pages that had endorsed his candidacy in November. Mr. Strickland, who apparently spoke out of reflexive political hostility to the Bush administration and the Iraq war, has subsequently tried to adopt a more nuanced tone. But the episode is already prompting buyer’s remorse among some of his supporters.

Mr. Strickland, a six-term Congressman and former professor of psychology, romped to a 23-point victory over Ken Blackwell and an Ohio GOP that had been severely discredited by numerous scandals. But he was elected to be the chief executive of one of the largest states in the country, not a continuous critic of Washington. He promised reform of the state’s system of education funding, but so far, no plan has been forthcoming — and not even a hint of a plan. Instead, Mr. Strickland has been talking up the idea of a ballot initiative for a tax hike, apparently so he can reverse his “no-new-taxes” pledge and kick off a new spending spree while blaming it on voters.

Unfortunately, Ohioans already carry the third highest local and state tax burden in the country, and Ohio businesses face the nation’s second-most hostile tax climate, according to the Tax Foundation. No wonder jobs and taxpayers are fleeing the state. According to the IRS, 39,000 of Ohio’s affluent households left the Buckeye State between 2003 and 2005 in favor of places like Florida and Texas, which have no income tax, taking with them $2.1 billion in annual income.

Though Ohioans don’t blame Gov. Strickland for the fiscal mess, they can and should expect their governor to look at more obvious solutions, like slashing spending and deflating the state’s bloated public sector, not to mention continuing the trend of using charter schools and vouchers. Indeed, a chastened Republican legislature has made clear its willingness to work with a landslide-winning Democratic governor. But that would mean Mr. Strickland standing up to Ohio’s public sector labor unions. That would mean displaying leadership. So far, Mr. Strickland hasn’t answered the call.

Certainly Strickland hasn’t answered the call to Ohioans; he is a tax and spend Liberal and carries the baggage of lying to the voting public during his campaign.

Yes, Ohio has paid a price in the Iraq war but Strickland takes partisan swipes at the President when answering a question about refugees. It’s likely Strickland would support amnesty for illegal aliens but won’t lend a helping hand to refugees from a worn torn country. “Heartless” may be one way to describe Governor Strickland, coward may be more accurate.