S.O.S. speech.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty delivered his 8th and final State of the State address this morning. The speech lasted about half an hour. The speech was set in a serious tone for the most part. Pawlenty Saying Minnesota faces challenging times. Lead by a national recession.

Pawlenty lead his speech off by welcoming home the national guard red bull unit. He talked about how important they where to our State. Also saying if Minnesota can bottle there courage, and energy then we will work past the issues facing the State.

Pawlenty comments where pointed and direct. Jobs had to be the top priority. There was some role for government in this but for the most part we had to step a side and lead business owners lead us in the right direction. A lot of his speech was about the size of government and the money they spend.

He toted his jobZ program and asked that it be renewed. He also mentioned making a car jobz for the ford plant. Even though Ford has said they will shut the plant down regardless.

Saying our tax system is not competitive with others in the country. Minnesota ranked 46th in the country for workable tax systems. He said we needed to up date our outdated system. We also needed to lower the burden of taxes on business. Allowing them to help grow.

The speech also included education, unallotment, and health care. I am hoping to get some others to comment on that so I will hold off for a bit.

I thought the speech was very good. He has pinned him self in a corner a bit by saying he will not raise taxes. Something he has said for the last eight years. For the most part he has stuck to that but with huge budget deficit this year it will be interesting to see how they work it out.

The speech was pointed and direct. He sounded very professional and his tone was almost presidential. A hint he will run for President in 2012?