Luke Warm, Action Hero

John Kasich has a reputation for smarts and integrity. His big deal was the budget, until he ran for president, was washed out in the first wave, and disappeared. I assume his reputation is deserved, but maintain rational doubt.

So today Mr. K has a piece in opinionjournal.com about Ohio Republicans going down the drain.

I know Ohio Republicans. I recognize almost everything -- scratch that -- I recognize every single thing in Kasich's piece. If you had collected a scattering of Ohio Newspapers over the course of aboout two years, you'd recognize all of it, too. (Nevermind that it reads like a less-than-unhinged, even reasonable Democrat press release; I've already said that you'd get the information from the papers.)

What gets me is, there's no there to it. If a sixth grade student, having read those papers, half a dozen articles would do it, wrote this, I'd tell his parents he was extraordinary. If a ninth grader did it, I'd give him an A, then I'd talk to him about stretching himself. If a 12th grader did it, I'd say, okay, you deserve your diploma, give him a B maybe, but I'd be a little abrupt: Fine, but what do you think?

So, from the great Kasich, what do we get? Nothing that I can see but intellectual mush. The sky is falling, at least that's what the papers say, but is there an insight in there anyway, a suggestion, even a criticism? He doesn't like "corruption," unlike, I don't know who, but as best as I can tell he wouldn't know corruption if it bit him in the arse. He says, literally, nothing. Should Ohioans elect Petro? Blackwell? A Democrat? Should taxes be repealed? What should anyone do or think after reading this? Damned if I know, and damned if I know why anyone should read it, except as evidence that there is a lot less to Kasich than meets the eye -- and he's been invisible for going on six years now.

The bio appendage does note one thing: Kasich has a book out. Its title? "Stand for Something".