by Craig Ruff
February 16, 2009

A New York Times/CBS poll taken January 12–15 found that 79 percent of Americans held optimism about the next four years under President Obama. Hope amidst pain is one of humans’ finest qualities.

Let us conjure up a mock poll depicting Michiganians’ attitudes. About 80 percent of adults:

1. Feel that our state is the best state in the nation in which to live, work, and raise a family
2. Know that our kids have splendid opportunities to be better off than we are
3. Believe that the best is before us, not behind us
4. Would like to travel in winter to warmer climates, but not move there because we would lose touch with our closest friends and family
5. Are certain that our kids will find good places to live, work, and meet lifelong partners in Michigan
6. Are convinced that a college or university degree or technical apprenticeship is better found in Michigan than anywhere else
7. Would be proud of children who sampled other cities or countries and came home to be with Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, and/or siblings because kinship trumps all other considerations
8. Know that our well-educated kids have better job opportunities here than anywhere else
9. Crave and produce efficient, high-quality, and responsive governance
10. Trust that the work ethic and quality of life have no better place to thrive than in Michigan.

Michigan is but one of 50 states and a thousand nations in which to be born, raise a family, work, and retire. Our struggles pale in comparison to raising a kid in sub-Saharan Africa or begging for loose change in India. If you think that things could not be worse, see Slumdog Millionaire.

No place and no people are perfect. Robert Penn Warren, one of the finest men of letters and shrewdest observers of America, penned a long-forgotten, late-in-life novel. It was called A Place to Come To. It was not his finest work. Yet, to re-read his poignant reminiscences, I put aside Michigan’s imperfections. I train my focus on the moorings and trust that he put in upbringing, family, and pride of place.

In a January 2 column in The Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan wrote: “The thing about America is that it is always ahead of the clichés, always one step ahead of an assured limit.” Surely, the same can be said of Michigan.

Nearly 80 percent of us hope for and wish President Obama the best, but Americans’ optimism transcends any one leader. Hope is in our roots and DNA. We need now for Michiganians to shed belief that the world’s clichés about us represent our destiny. They do not.

For whatever ails Michigan can be overcome. To reassert greatness, the first step is to grasp optimism from the claws of anxiety.

Craig Ruff is, among many things, a senior policy fellow and former president of Lansing-based Public Sector Consultants.