Crist sidesteps state's woes in address

TALLAHASSEE --

After moving the annual State of the State speech to 6 p.m. so Floridians could watch their government in action, Gov. Charlie Crist turned his 30-minute address into a laundry list of his initiatives, making scant mention of the state's economic turmoil or solutions for getting the state out of its jam.

Instead, the governor flatly declared that Florida faces ''extraordinary economic times'' and moved on.

His recipe for improving the economy: a call to legislators to stay the course ``by keeping taxes low, by creating jobs and fueling an economy that ranks ahead of most nations of the world.''

Absent were any clear directives to a Legislature that's ideologically torn over how to approach what will be $4 billion in budget cuts -- a 16 percent reduction in state revenues since last year. He not only offered no new policies or solutions, he dwelled on his insurance reform's successes from last year and said nothing about sacrifice or about the budget cuts.

Crist's speech and his de rigueur self-mention of his optimism left legislators wondering, if not simply bored.

''There was no wow moment,'' said Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, a Miami Republican. ``There was no goose-bump moment. There was no acknowledgement of severe economic times. He says he's an optimist, but he needs to be a realist when things are this bad.''

Miami Herald