By John Lindstrom
Publisher
Posted: January 17, 2019 3:50 PM

For decades, many people in Michigan, regardless of their party or ideology, if asked who was the best politician they could name, the answer was: John Engler.

From his auspicious beginning getting elected to the House in 1970 when he was a fresh graduate from Michigan State University, to his unseating a long-term Senate incumbent in the 1978 primary, to taking control of the Senate majority in the early 1980s to his astonishing election as governor in 1990, Mr. Engler was a master politician. He had more than a determined will, more than guts, more than just plain smarts. He had vision and knew how to accomplish that vision. He didn't care if you disagreed with him. He didn't care that you hated him. He had a vision, he would accomplish it and even his opponents ruefully acknowledged he had them beat.

So how was it he failed as interim president of his alma mater?

Like any human, Mr. Engler made lots of mistakes in his political career. Unlike most people, he learned from those mistakes and rarely made them again.

He got bested, occasionally, in his political life. Former Rep. Lynn Jondahl once told this reporter of a time in the 1980s when the House and Senate were at a standstill on some budget issue. Mr. Jondahl was in the room when then-Democratic Speaker Gary Owen taunted then-Republican Senate Majority Leader Engler over a potential agreement.

"What's the matter, John?" Mr. Owen said, according to Mr. Jondahl. "Can't you control your caucus? I control my caucus. Why can't you control yours?" Mr. Engler said nothing in reply, just glaring at Mr. Owen. In fact, Mr. Engler did have several caucus members who disliked him intensely and would just as soon find a way to toss him out of his post. Those members were soon either gone themselves, replaced by Engler allies, or cowed into being loyal. You might best him once; you almost never got another opportunity to do so.

No one would describe Mr. Engler as a charmer. He hammered at points and facts and logic, often in hopes of wearying or overwhelming an opponent. But he also knew when he needed to turn the talk over to someone who could charm on his behalf. Admittedly, that wasn't often, as he generally either won over the opponent or simply brushed the person aside. But he did know that softness was sometimes needed.

He never believed in going small on something. Mr. Engler spoke often of how at his first inaugural former Governor George Romney told him to, "Be bold." Mr. Engler was. His proposals were always big and bold. Now, he'd take the deal, he'd go halfway, a quarter-way, a millionth of a way to his ultimate goal, and he'd live by the deal. But the next day he would start pushing for more, to get closer to his vision, taking deal after deal, until the vision was accomplished.

Presumably, that was what MSU's Board of Trustees was looking for when in the depths of the worst scandal in the school's history they called on Mr. Engler. Presumably they wanted bold vision and the guts needed to accomplish it. In some ways, Mr. Engler delivered. He achieved a legal settlement with the Nassar survivors in a couple months as opposed to several years, and amid talk it could top $1 billion, the number was $500 million. He broomed out many university administrative officials who drove the clown car that allowed Larry Nassar to escape culpability.

Students hated him, he didn't care. Faculty hated him, he didn't care. He had a vision, he was going to get that vision accomplished.

So, what happened? Okay, technology and social media helped drive his opponents. Mr. Engler's fateful interview with The Detroit News on Friday, had it happened, say, in the first term of his governorship in the pre-Internet era, would not have rocketed through the state and nation as quickly as it did. That said, Mr. Engler was always on top of technology. He knew what it could allow; it didn't bother him.

Our culture demands greater empathy, more understanding and acceptance. He has three daughters, a wife who takes no guff herself. When former GOP national committee member Chuck Yob said secretary of state was a good place for a woman on the ticket because "they like that kind of work," Mr. Engler said he was out of touch and needed to go. This was back almost 20 years ago, for Pete's sake. One has to think he understood current culture.

Except, presuming he does understand current culture, presuming he does at least intellectually understand that victims need and deserve special consideration and care, it didn't register with him. He simply seemed to think this was no different than politics as usual. He certainly acted, and God knows spoke, as if he was once more facing off against an opposition leader.

But he was facing mostly kids, wounded and abused. He was facing their parents, hurting and angry. He faced a whole university community, mortified, angry and even scared. He also faced the world, shocked, disgusted and demanding to know what happened and how will it get fixed?

Somehow, possibly the best politician in Michigan history didn't see any of that. Missed a population that, even though they didn't like him, didn't trust him, still needed him to assure them.

He missed that sense of emotional need, missed what he needed to do to help reclaim trust. Mr. Engler figured they needed swift resolution of the problem and to just move on.

Yeah, sure, swift resolution, okay, that was needed. Moving on? Well, yeah, that kinda comes on its own, not easily, but it does.

But there was a lot more needed. Something not tangible, not measurable, yet still overwhelmingly present and needing acknowledgement. And the smartest guy in the room this time was just plain blind to it all. Why was he dumb when he needed to be smarter than ever? We'll probably never know.