The governor of Minnesota is the leader we all need right now
By Jim Walsh
Every day at 2 p.m. Central Standard Time, radios across the state of Minnesota tune in to Governor Tim Walz’s daily COVID-19 update. It’s become something of an old-timey ritual, with Walz and his team delivering comforting but brutally honest words from the first-term governor’s home, where he’s been in self-quarantine — both because he was exposed to the coronavirus and because he’s leading by example.
Unlike the president of the United States, whose daily update charade continues to be a cowardly and dangerous source of misinformation and lies, and a pillar of irresponsibility.
Walz is the polar opposite. We’ve reached that point in the pandemic where it’s the United States governors versus Donald “what have you done for me lately?” Trump, and while most of the country has found an ad-hoc presidential figure in the steady hand of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, here in Minnesota we’re following the warmth and wisdom of Walz, whose response to the pandemic has been amongst the most prudent and precise of all state leaders.
“We’ve flattened the curve more than any other state,” said Walz Wednesday, in his press conference extending a statewide stay-at-home order to May 4. “It can all go sideways very quickly if we don’t continue.”
Walz has obviously heeded the warnings screaming out of New York, New Jersey and beyond, and his basic understanding of science, history, and current events led to one of the earliest shutdowns of a state that hasn’t yet been overrun with cases. Two weeks into the shutdown, with Walz leading the way and constantly reminding citizens to stay at home and practice social distancing, Minnesota has the lowest case count and mortality rate in the country — a fact that Walz will barely acknowledge in his updates and press conferences, except to say, “We can’t rest on our laurels.”
A former National Guardsman, high school geography teacher and football coach, Walz is used to dealing with knuckleheads and chaos, and it’s easy to see he feels great responsibility for students, workers, and families. I had no affinity for Walz, or any knowledge of any of this until last spring, when I saw the governor give the keynote address at the annual awards ceremony of the Minnesota chapter of the Society Of Professional Journalists. A few weeks prior, the Minnesota legislature was embroiled in yet another budget stalemate, and Walz shut down morning press conferences that had deteriorated into partisan bickering.
Citing the First Amendment, the Minnesota press corps. passionately challenged the ruling over freedom of speech and press rights, and they did so again this night. For 40 minutes, Walz stood at that podium in a banquet room overlooking the Mississippi River and took every question from every journalist who had one. He faced the fire, in other words, and explained his logic and decision-making in a variety of ways.
I was impressed, and I had the same reaction that night as I do these strange days, every time I read one of his tweets or hear him speak: Walz cares deeply about the people of his state and about their well-being. I’d like to trot out the “presidential” jive here, but given the current crock of crap wearing that mantle, that drastically low balls it.
On April 4, Walz virtually delivered his State of the State address. “Right at the time Minnesotans are usually putting away their shovels and snow blowers, opening up their windows, and emerging from their homes — we are bracing for a storm of epic proportions,” he began. “We are used to long winters in Minnesota. We are resilient people with a deep reserve of courage, optimism, and grit. But this will be a winter like we’ve never seen before.”
“While we may be separated physically, we stand united,” he concluded. “From Rondo to the Range, from North Minneapolis to North Mankato, we are One Minnesota.”
Desperate Minnesota social media blew up with thanks, relief, accolades. Paul Metsa, the great Minneapolis-based songwriter, posted on Facebook, “Governor Walz hit it out of the park tonight with his State of the State speech. Beautifully written with references of acts of kindness, how Minnesota troops helped win the Battle of Gettysburg, how our iron ore industry helped with the Second World War, how institutions like the Mayo hospital are leading the search for a cure… His 25 years in the National Guard, his time as both a teacher and a coach, puts Minnesotans in strong and capable hands. I love Minnesota and I was incredibly moved.”
As of this writing, Minnesota has recorded 50 deaths due to COVID19. Amidst the shutdown and on the eerily quiet streets, there is a semblance of stability. While Trump does his downplay-and-evade squirm, Walz does exactly the reverse, treating his constituency like adults who can handle bad news. Much has been made of the United States’ lack of preparedness for a global pandemic that started in China in November, but Walz answered the call early (“We’re buying time,” he’s fond of saying), and in doing so has made Minnesota something like an oasis of preparation and vigilance amidst a worldwide backdrop of tragedy, death and despair.
“We might end up with more hospital beds than we needed, but that is a much better situation than winding up with too few,” he said in his April 6 press conference, about a problem that most governors and their beleaguered states would gladly take on right about now.
Jim Walsh is a Minneapolis-based author, journalist, and songwriter.
