Media's concern about no GOP debates this year a curious contrast to Kasich's debate avoidance in 2014

In the nicest, kindest, most tepid way possible, Ohio's mostly go-along mainstream media panned Gov. Kasich's eighth and final State of the State address, calling it a class on philosophy and the "meaning of life."

Gov. John Kasich signs a state budget

Had the state's statehouse reporter crew been honest with their reader- and viewerships, what they should have said but didn't was that the National Chaplain's nearly hour-long sermon at Otterbein University on Tuesday—draped in faux religiosity and sanctimonious platitudes about values and living larger lives—was a premeditated avoidance of the facts of pathetic policies that have not advanced Ohio as promised.

One reporter put it this way: "Kasich’s final State of the State address was overly philosophic even by his standards," adding the governor didn't mention "tax cuts, privatization of prisons, education reforms, abortion restrictions, funding cuts to local governments and outsourcing economic development to a private nonprofit."

Every courtesy has been extended to coddle Kasich for a sermon that left everyone flat, disappointed and confused. Wondering where the beef was, given Kasich's unrelenting campaign to be the next President of the United States when presidential elections roll around again in just 31 months and his call to bring people together, is a legitimate question to ask of a politician who seems to want to follow in the footsteps of a preacher like Billy Graham instead of president like Franklin Delano Roosevelt who fought for Social Security and other government-backed programs to put food on the table and a roof over that table.

So what does Kasich's boring, uninformative, politically motivated ho-hum speech have to do with the race for governor this year between Republicans Mike DeWine, state attorney general, and Mary Taylor, Kasich's Lt. Gov since 2010? Actually, a lot, since both candidates rallied behind Kasich for governor and for president.

When you endorse someone, you endorse their record. That record, going back to his first days as a performance politician in 1978 and then through his 18 years representing Westerville in Congress, shows Kasich to be the establishment Republican insider he says he is. His core values over the years are always directed to benefit corporations over workers, private business over government, charter schools over public schools and healthcare as a privilege instead of a right, to name just a few issues where his values conflict with the values of common people.

How times flies and media memories fade, now that Taylor, seeing a loss to DeWine rushing at her, is crying about DeWine avoiding debating her. It wasn't that long ago, just four years ago to be exact, when first-term governor Kasich not only refused to debate Ed FitzGerald, the nominee of the Democratic Party, but refused to even mention his name. Reporters portrayed that demonstration of pique and perverted persona as a feature of Kasich's that showed how disciplined his partisanship could be when he's in campaign mode. It's curious, too, that media decrying the lack of debates then between Kasich and FitzGerald are now upset that the GOP primary contest probably won't have even one debate between DeWine and Taylor.

And if that debate should somehow happen, both candidates, but especially Taylor, will have to defend Kasich's record. And should any moderator or reporter, not ignorant of Kasich's less than stellar accomplishments, pins each candidate against their own previous support for Kasich, that would be good for all taxpayers to know.

Taylor's campaign theme is portray herself as more socially and fiscally conservative than DeWine, who she's tagged as a career politician with liberal leanings. Meanwhile, Democrats have long confused the reasons why Kasich defends the expansion of Medicaid with why they like it. They've continually complimented Ohio's 69th CEO for accepting $2.5 billion dollars through Obamacare, when he's never once said a kind word about them. Kasich is so full of himself that he's told national audiences he has "no clue" what Democrats stand for. Really, how out of touch with reality do you have to be to say something like that and get away with it?

Republicans in Ohio and nationally have their long knives out for the Great Reformer for doing an administrative end-run around the GOP-led legislature's expressed desire to shut down expanded Medicaid, a promise Taylor says she'll keep if elected.

Poor Mary Taylor is cursed with Kasich's endorsement. It's a safe bet that GOP candidates this year won't be out hustling John Kasich for his endorsement in light of his pathetic record in Ohio and on the national stage, where despite being the last man standing against Donald Trump in 2016, he could only win one state and one Electoral College vote. But because he's a reliable anti-Trump dancing bear, national TV talk show hosts and reporters love to have him do cameo appearances to portray his now adopted persona as the quirky anti-Trumpster who enjoys being out of step with his party when being out of step advances his personal ambitions.

His personal ambitions were made all to clear to anyone listening or watching, when at the end of his speech he said this: "We can't even see the finish line, it's so far in the future. And to my friends, of course, my beloved family, and the team, together we have a world to change."

For the hard of learning reporters out there, "we have a world to change" is John Kasich the crowd that he won't go quietly in his post-governor night.

When debates do occur between Republican and Democratic primary winners this year, the legacy of John Kasich should be a central part of those debates. The Lord knows that if John Kasich said he's done his best, it's light years away from what he could have done had his values been to help the down and out, those "living in the shadows," and Bob and Betty Buckeye who still look for jobs that pay a livable wage, affordable healthcare coverage, and a future that will employ their children so they don't have to go to real growth states to find a good job.

Just so this important point isn't lost, news on job statistics released Friday show that January is the 62nd consecutive month when Ohio's job growth rate has been below the USA national average, a period of time extended to five full years and two additional months.

Kasich ducked debates in 2014, and few media voices clamored about his petulant obstinacy to defending his record then. Let's hope debates in 2018 make up for what was lacking four years ago, when Kasich promised voters "they hadn't seen anything yet," a campaign commercial that foretold the truth better than anyone imagined.

For a change, Ohioans would like to see something.