Saturday, January 03, 2009

Joe Straus is the New Messiah

Why not? In a time when we are on the rebound from “Joe the Plumber,” from “Joe the Anything,” why not “Joe the Messiah”?

That is what a bloc of eleven Anyone But Craddick (including Joe) Republican state house Members must be thinking. That and the hope that they can get the votes of 64 Anyone But Craddick Democrats.

The Dallas Morning News story summarizing it all also says this about the man chosen to save the Texas State House from the reign of the tyrant Tom Craddick:
“Straus is seen as even-handed and smart and someone who has worked with members on both sides of the aisle. He also is seen as a newcomer, which might cause some members to balk at elevating him.”
A newcomer he is, with only 3 years in the state body, although he has served in several Republican appointed positions during the Reagan and Bush-41 administration. He is also known for his family affiliation, the Straus family of San Antonio, which brought horse racing, and I assume pari mutuel betting, to San Antonio.

So Joe Straus seems to be a betting man.

A man who is betting that his very weakness, his lack of years in the state house compared to Craddick’s 4 decades of state house service, will be seen as his chief strength. He is known long enough to be seen as one who reaches across the aisle, but not long enough to have placed too many knives in the backs of his colleagues.

Something we cannot say about Tom Craddick.

Now I guess the only questions left to the 64 member ABC Democratic bloc in the House are these:

a) Is this guy named Tom Craddick?
b) If not, can they work with him?
c) If so, will Straus create a rift within his own caucus?

If the answers are, respectively, No, Yes, and Maybe then the way seems clear, doesn’t it?

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