Kansas Governor Sebelius will rebut Bush, then endorse Obama

My governor, Kathleen Sebelius, will be giving the Democratic response to the State of the Union address on Monday night. Then, on Tuesday, she'll apparently endorse Barack Obama for president.

There's quite a buzz growing around her (to the point where there's discussion of her as a vice presidential possibility) which stuns me a bit, because it's usually very hard for Kansas Democrats to make a buzz in Kansas -- national recognition is pretty much unheard of.

I have friends who have worked for the governor, so I want to choose my words carefully. But I'm a little perplexed why she should be attracting the attention. Her chief qualification seems to be that she is a Democrat who got elected in Kansas. Twice. And while that's no small feat -- we haven't gone Dem in a presidential race since 1964 -- it's important to understand the Democrats don't generally get elected in Kansas by acting like Democrats.

When it came time to fund Kansas schools properly, the governor made proposals -- but pretty much let the Kansas Legislature duke it out with the Kansas Supreme Court, until the court was satisfied.

On abortion, everybody knows she's pro-choice -- but she's largely stayed out of that arena, again leaving the bickering over the issue to the legislature and whoever happens to be occupying the state attorney general's office.

And surely you've heard about the great Kansas debate over teaching evolution in public schools. She's certainly made her views known, but mostly stayed on the sidelines. It wasn't an issue in the jurisdiction of her office, to be fair, but I'm not sure she used her bully pulpit all that effectively or loudly.

In fact, I'd say Sebelius has two -- count 'em -- notable accomplishments:

* She's helped spark a long-overdue political realignment in the state, helping prominent moderate Republicans leave an increasingly conservative party that had no use for them. Both of her lieutenant governors have been Republicans turned Democrats. The same was true for two other newly elected Kansas Democrats in 2006 -- scandal-plagued Attorney General Paul Morrison, who is resigning,

and U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda who often seems like a Lou Dobbs clone.

* Her appointee, Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Rod Bremby (a friendly acquaintance/source of mine), rejected two proposed coal plants on global warming grounds. Indeed, that action is the one that seems to have sparked the most recent round of praise for her.

Except, whoops, it seems like she might now be trying to work out a compromise on that one. Given the either-or nature of that particular debate -- either coal plants get built, or they don't -- it's hard to see how a "compromise" would be anything other than "backing down."

I'm not trying to be overly critical of the governor, here. She is a Democrat in a Republican state, working with a Republican legislature. There's only so much she can do. And I think it's fair to say she's served competently.

But if it comes to this, don't give her the VP slot. You need somebody who is going to be a pit-bull for Democratic interests in that position (during the campaign, at least), and I've seen no sign of it. Let her give Monday's speech, give her a cabinet position -- or help her run for Sen. Sam Brownback's seat in 2010 -- and be done with it.

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