Ah. So. After a couple weeks of wretched publicity, Governor Shumlin has executed a political maneuver not normally present in his bag of tricks: the quick turnabout. After repeatedly insisting that his purchase of the Dodge homestead was a done deal, his attorney is now saying that Shumlin is open to voiding the transaction.

In fact, M. Jerome Diamond insists that Shumlin felt that way all along – he was just saying the exact opposite. And Mr. Diamond had a ready explanation, (Freeploid paywall alert) if not a believable one, for this odd behavior:

Diamond, whom Shumlin had hired in recent weeks after the land deal became a hot-button issue, said nullifying the deal had always been an option Shumlin was willing to consider, but he hadn’t wanted to say so publicly because he didn’t want to negotiate in the media.

Bwahahahaha. Sorry, M. Jerome, not buyin’ it. If Shumlin didn’t want to negotiate in the media, he should have said so, rather than blatantly misrepresenting his stance. No, the more likely scenario is that attorney sat down with client and told him that the facts in the case might not be in his favor, and even if they were, a courtroom victory over Jeremy Dodge could poison Shumlin’s image. In short, a trial would be a lose-lose situation for the Governor.

So the best option was a graceful exit. With Shumlin, of course, insisting that he be fully reimbursed in any settlement. After all, charity stops at the wallet’s opening. (Must be one of those childhood lessons learned by Little Petey the Price-Gouger.)

So, assuming that the Governor’s cupidity doesn’t prevent him from ending this sorry episode, what’s the big takeaway?

After the jump: the big… er… takeaways.

Well, there’s the fresh dents in his image. The Dodge transaction confirms a widely held perception that the Governor is a millionaire with a chronic empathy shortage who’s tone-deaf to the troubles of less fortunate Vermonters.

But equally important, if not more so, for his political future: this is just the latest episode in a very bad 2013 for Shumlin. (“Very bad” in relative terms, of course; he remains a very powerful chief executive with huge legislative majorities and a feeble opposition.) This year, he’s suffered one setback after another that strike at the very core of his appeal as a politician: that he’s a savvy operator and a can-do executive.

Start with his budget address in January, when he laid out some bold new initiatives that came as a complete surprise to Legislative Democrats. Presumably he thought that the Dems would follow where he led – or that he could persuade them through his raw political charisma. But the Dems were blindsided, and they didn’t appreciate it.

And then, during the 2013 session,  Shumlin utterly failed to make a persuasive case for his plans. He kept on repeating the same old discredited talking points, long after it was clear that nobody was buying what he was selling. And he stonewalled Legislative efforts to meet him halfway.

And in the end, while there was significant movement on some issues, the 2013 session was a messy squander of an historic opportunity. If the Governor and Democratic lawmakers had been on the same page, they could have accomplished far more. And in my mind, Shumlin gets most of the blame because of his stubborn refusal to budge.

The Dodge deal is just the cherry on this shit sundae. And one more sign that Peter Shumlin may not be the political or managerial genius he clearly thinks he is. Whether or not I’ve agreed with the Governor, I’ve always had respect for his smarts. But in recent months, we’ve seen plenty of  evidence that his strengths might not be all that strong*. Which is bad news for his own political future, and bad news for the Democrats’ hopes of extending their hegemony. Methinks it’s time for the Shumlin Machine to head to the garage for a tuneup. Or a rebuild.  

*You know, all this trouble started after the departure of Alex MacLean, Shumlin’s top aide and political right hand. Maybe, just maybe, she was the real genius of the clan.