Two halves leave a hole - The Boston Globe

Two halves leave a hole - The Boston Globe

A fairly balanced analysis of Patrick and Baker - both the good and the bad. Refreshing since each side has reduced the election to "higher taxes" vs. "lower taxes". Truth be told, Patrick has lost direction and Baker has shown no signs he is willing to take risks to protect those most vulnerable in our society. Kin...d of a "cliff notes" version for every election this November.

A candidate named Patrick Baker would run away with this governor’s race.

Please don’t get me wrong. It’s not that both candidates, Deval Patrick and Charlie Baker, are so good that it’s tough to pick between the two. It’s not that both are so bad, either. It’s that each candidate carries into this race roughly half the package to be a truly great governor during tumultuous economic times. In this unusual race, what one candidate lacks, the other has.

But together, there are endless possibilities. Patrick Baker would be both decisive and empathetic. Patrick Baker would be forceful but not angry. Patrick Baker would be as polite as he is firm.

Patrick Baker would try novel approaches while always understanding the plight of those in need.

I was considering this as Reilly, a retired state attorney general I happen to admire, was telling me why he was crossing party lines and supporting Baker.

He had just said his piece at the podium about Baker’s good work turning around Harvard Pilgrim when, in private, he added: “Do I believe in everything he does? No, I don’t. But if he tells you he’s going to do something, he will.’’

Which is what bothers me, given Baker’s proposals to axe 5,000 state workers in this miserable economy and roll the state income, corporate, and sales taxes back to 5 percent, creating a further $2.5 billion deficit in a budget held together with masking tape and paper clips.

Baker is bold. Baker is decisive. Baker is an innovator. He speaks often about the difficult decisions he pushed in the Weld and Cellucci administrations and made as the CEO of Harvard Pilgrim.

But there’s an essential truth that needs to be considered carefully: All those tough decisions never actually affect people like him. As for the people they do affect, Baker has shown no particular facility or desire to understand them.

In short, in Baker, we get someone steeped in action, but in need of more compassion.

Counter this with Patrick, possibly the most empathetic politician I’ve ever covered. He came up through the ghetto of Chicago, took every possible advantage of programs designed to give people a boost, and understands in his bones what it means to be someone in need.

His problem, though, is the relatively low metabolism of too much of his governorship. He floundered through a freshman year of controversy over office decorations and cars and an ill-advised call on behalf of a mortgage giant. Then he accepted a book deal. He pushed casinos, twice, with nothing to show for it. He muddied himself in a patronage play that made him look like the hacks he used to criticize.

In the last 18 months or so, he’s achieved an impressive roster of reforms — of state ethics, pensions, transportation agencies, and especially education. At the same time, he has surgically cut the state budget with an eye toward preserving services for the people who most need them. He has taken the politically untenable stance of pushing for tax hikes to pay for the things he believes in.

In short, in Patrick, we have gotten an uncommonly thoughtful leader, but not a bold, glass-breaking innovator.

In Patrick Baker, we would get both. Yes, I understand that the two will never become one. But the point is, it’s the candidate that ranges beyond his comfort zone in the final two weeks and learns from his opponent that will win this race.

Baker needs to be more empathetic and thoughtful rather than strident and clinical, to demonstrate an understanding that his actions will have real consequences on real people. And Patrick needs to raise the temperature and pound the podium not only on what he’s done, but the innovative things he wants to do.

Patrick Baker may be a myth, but it’s also a goal.