"Still, California’s challenge is America’s: how to manage public business competently enough—collecting taxes, covering costs, educating children, fostering research, protecting the environment, maintaining order—to allow the creative carnival of its private activities to go on. And this is where Jerry Brown’s accomplishment seems most impressive. Arnold Schwarzenegger left office with a budget deficit of about $27 billion, having covered some of the state’s obligations during his final year in office with IOUs. This year’s budget shows a surplus of at least $500 million. 'We are governable!,' Brown told me, emphasizing it because so many people have argued the reverse. 'We balanced our budget. Arnold just borrowed money, but we’re paying down our debts. We’re coming back.'"
James Fallows in The Atlantic praises Jerry Brown.
But David Dayen in Salon has another take.
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