Eating up more redundant front page space, but another VY thought burning to get out. Tim Newcomb has a political cartoon today depicting a battered Vermont Yankee being pushed off a plank by Peter Shumlin, who muses on his leadership qualities while the Yankee character asks “Is this vote about me or all about you?”

I love ya Tim, and you’re not the only one peddling this line, obviously – but its not only unfair, its bunk. Politicians have agendas. They run for office based on them – openly. We elect them based on our collective assessment of those agendas. We expect them to be consistent and effective in acting on those agendas if elected. It is, in fact, the job.

Of course Shumlin has an agenda. And of course voters for governor will judge the quality of that agenda, as well as judge him based on how consistent and effective he has been in pushing it. What on earth is the problem?

Shumlin has been nothing but consistent on this issue. And he did not bring VY to this moment of truth – the calendar and Entergy’s own incompetence and deceitfulness did. To suggest otherwise is to grant Shumlin weird, reality-bending powers (see Governor Salmon).

On this issue over the years, Shumlin has been consistent, and now he is attempting to be effective. He didn’t create this critical moment, he is showing leadership by acting on it. Yes, most Democrats seem to believe that the best way to get elected is do as little as possible, so perhaps he’s going against the zeitgeist here – but to suggest he should be taken to task for being consistent and effective – all because one shouldn’t do that if one is running for governor is as clear an example of the dysfunctional pathology gripping american politics as I can think of.