Strickland's Failed Leadership

That Was Then

• "Ohio needs new leadership: honest, hardworking, competent leadership. We need to get Ohio back on track," Strickland said. (The Lima News, 5/14/06)
   
• Strickland: "A governor can provide leadership."  (Dayton Daily News, 7/9/06)
   
• "I think Ohio needs someone who will level with them, not someone who is good at sound bites, not someone who offers gimmicks instead of plans," [Strickland] said. (Columbus Dispatch, 7/15/06)
   
• Strickland: "I don't flip-flop. I am very consistent." (Toledo Blade, 3/26/06)
   

This Is Now

• "The governor lately has confessed to 'some duplicity' in his thinking. And that is the problem. He talks a big game, and then cowers at the prospect of leading as a governor must."  (Column, Michael Douglas, Akron Beacon Journal, 5/10/09)
   
• "The governor alone isn't accountable for Ohio's well-being. But he is the man at the top. And he has an obligation to level with people about what will happen if Ohio just cuts its way out of its hole. He has shamelessly not done that. And it's because his foremost concern is being re-elected." (Column, Ellen Belcher, Dayton Daily News, 6/26/09)
   
• "Why were Strickland and the Democrats so eager to regain the Governor's Mansion and legislative power, only to run from the very responsibilities they fought so hard to win?" (Editorial, Columbus Dispatch, 5/1/09)
   
• "The lack of leadership this governor has shown throughout this crisis is nothing short of appalling. ... At a time when Ohio desperately needs a governor who thinks first and foremost of the state's future, Strickland acts as if that future begins and ends with his 2010 re-election campaign." (Column, Brent Larkin, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, 6/28/09)