When the Champagne Stops, Things Will Get Tough for Governor Wolf

I'm glad to see Governor Tom Wolf take office later this month. Hell, i'm just glad to see Tom Corbett run out of town. I'm not looking at this through the glass half-full lense though- he inherits a bad situation. The House Democrats have lost 20 seats in three cycles. The Senate Democrats are back down to 20 seats. The budget is billions in the hole, and he ran on some big promises- funding education, an extraction tax on natural gas, and transportation improvements, to name a few. He didn't spend a lot of time, comparatively with his primary rivals, courting legislators and local elected who he now will need as allies in governing. It's a coin-flip at best whether he will be a successful Governor or not, even from a Democrat's perspective.

Knowing all of that, I was a little surprised I saw all the negative texts I got today about this Politics PA piece that questioned how things will go. All it said is that year one could be tough. I think that's a given. Guys, sometimes you have to look at reality. Reality says that Governor Wolf will have to survive some rocky waters, at the very least.

Don't worry about that for now though. He hasn't even taken office yet. There's no reason to fret and sulk before you even bust open the champagne bottles on inauguration night.