EDITORIAL: Snyder's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day speech in Mount Pleasant an anticlimactic missed opportunity
Gov. Rick Snyder’s three-minute Martin Luther King, Jr. Day speech offered little inspiration toward the spirit of the holiday, or in introducing the new governor on the first federal holiday of his term.
Also, his appearance at the rally on Monday at the corner of Main and Broadway streets was not the primary reason he was in Mount Pleasant. This reason he would not disclose.
As a public official and the leader of our state, he should keep his affairs open and honest. If King and his message are a mere afterthought on the 25th anniversary of the federal holiday, it is fair to ask what business was Snyder’s priority.
His appearance Monday additionally calls into greater question his intent went it comes to higher education in general.
This university is looking at severe cuts in state funding and we need to demand our governor properly appropriate funding to higher education to follow through on his promise to create opportunities in Michigan — so college students can graduate and find work in-state.
With his business background, Snyder has never had to answer to the public at large for his comments or actions. He cannot steamroll the CMU student body and Mount Pleasant community with an unsubstantial speech.
He did not offer any concrete plans to make Michigan more inclusive when speaking about diversity, the need for equality, social justice and opportunities for Michigan residents. Neither did he expand on his career promises, such as offering solutions to his goal of creating more jobs in-state to retain Michigan graduates.
Again, he reiterated that goal Monday, saying he wants to “give back” as Michigan’s 48th governor, and “make the world a better place” by creating more jobs in Michigan to provide his constituents more opportunities to build a career and to prevent the “brain-drain” phenomenon.
College students have already suffered from increased tuition, lost scholarships and lost job opportunities.
Snyder was elected on the premise he would provide tangible, measurable resuscitation to Michigan’s floundering economy.
The notion is one that could be used to inspire hope in Michigan residents, and hope is a concept easily incorporated into a speech on King’s life and message. This would have also provided the optimal platform for a precursor to Snyder’s State of the State address tonight.
Snyder campaigned as the consummate businessman. Business is about seeing opportunity, capitalizing on it and making advantageous interpersonal connections.
On MLK Day in Mount Pleasant, Snyder discarded a major opportunity and did not even have the courtesy to tell his constituents why.
