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A recent Franklin and Marshall College poll indicates Gov. Tom Corbett’s approval rating has declined to about 30 percent. Many of those surveyed claim to have never seen the governor in public since he was elected in 2010. One unfounded Internet rumor claims Corbett accidentally became invisible because of an off-the-shelf medication side effect (the same thing happened to actor Claude Rains in a 1933 Universal movie and he went mad). A Corbett spokesman denies he has gone mad or is, in fact, invisible. “I saw him the other day,” claims a highly placed source who wants to remain anonymous (and invisible).
Poll Director G. Terry Madonna attributes Corbett’s decline in the polls to the governor’s cuts in human services and education. If it is true that the public is fed up with slashing human services and education, it probably explains why Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s campaign also is in trouble in the state. The core belief of the Republican Party is human services and education are the twin pillars of a coddled society (and having your dog strapped to the top of your van rather than traveling inside it). Even when Corbett is reported to have been seen in public infrequently, there are those who refuse to believe it.
Some political observers have compared Corbett’s invisibility problem to the continued refusal of many Republicans believing President Barack Obama is a U.S. citizen, despite the release of his birth certificate. A small percentage of voters in the state believe Corbett doesn’t exist at all, which is patently ridiculous because who else in responsible for his dreadful policies? Some believe the governor has been forced to hire a body double since he became invisible. After all, a friend of Corbett’s mentioned to me, “How would you like to appear in public as an empty suit and French cuffs?”
Corbett’s political strategists are dumbfounded because they never have had to deal with the invisibility of a client. Of course, there was the time when South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford disappeared in ’09 ostensibly to hike the Appalachian Trail. In Sanford’s case, he reappeared six days later; it turned out he was just cuddling in Argentina with a Sophia Vergara look-alike. One political operative said to me with a sigh, “Marital infidelity is so much easier to handle than invisibility.” Just as the “birther” movement evolved from Obama’s birth certificate controversy, a new society named in honor of Rains has been founded and dedicated to discovering the truth behind anyone’s invisibility. The Claude Rains Society recently announced it only has been able to verify that Corbett cannot see his image in a mirror. As one hopeful Republican told me, “That at least would get him the support of vampires in the state, and maybe even fans of “True Blood” and “Twilight.”
My feeling is there is a logical reason for Corbett’s precipitous decline in the polls — at this point his favorability rating is somewhere between the U.S. Congress and the West Nile Virus. Yes, the governor’s fall from grace may be linked to his lack of public visibility, but the reason may also be found in his policies.
While in recent years the unemployment rate in our state has been slightly less than the national average, recent statistics indicate it is now up to 8.1 percent, about the same as the rest of the nation. It wasn’t exactly a boon to Corbett’s popularity when he blamed the state’s unemployment problems on the unemployed. His love affair with the natural gas industry has called into question his judgment on whether the dangers of fracking outweigh its benefits to the state. His answer to the considerable education problems in Pennsylvania has been to chop $860 million from his education budget. Corbett also signed one of the toughest voter ID laws in the country, an obviously partisan action.
In addition, the Jerry Sandusky-Penn State scandal led many to question Corbett’s own actions when he was attorney general for that case. It took two years for Corbett to get an indictment, which some feel may have unnecessarily exposed more victims to Sandusky. Add up all of these factors and you get an increasingly unpopular governor in a state that some Republican officials have all but conceded to the Democrats and Obama in November.
It has been assumed once you are elected Pennsylvania governor, you get reelected. No matter how mediocre you might be the first four years, Pennsylvanians tend to like the devil we know rather than the one we don’t. We view our governor’s office like a comfy pair of old shoes — we never throw them out until eight years have passed (and that’s only because there are term limits on our governor’s office). So before you assume Corbett will become the first Pennsylvania governor in 60 years not to win reelection, consider our history.
People, we are in uncharted waters. We have never had a governor who appears in public slightly more often than Punxsutawney Phil. If you see Corbett, please call the Claude Rains Society.
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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