Wolf's 'love train' off and running

WELL, NO ONE CAN say Democratic Gov. Wolf isn't off to an enthusiastic start.

His inauguration yesterday outside the Capitol was marked by calm weather, an eclectic mix of music and high-sounding rhetoric tempered with reality.

There were a cappella songs from a Pittsburgh LGBT choir, a vigorous vocal of Pennsylvania's state song (who knew we had a song?) and a rousing rendition of the O'Jays' 1970s Philly-born hit "Love Train," performed by the Chester Children's Chorus.

"People all over the world, join hands, start a love train, love train."

That got Wolf's chief of staff, Katie McGinty, dancing on the dais and trying, without much success, to get Republican Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati to dance with her.

He looked a tad stiff. They looked a bit awkward.

Then former Gov. Ed Rendell, who introduced Wolf, was uncharacteristically brief (two minutes). He called Wolf "the embodiment of renewal and hope."

But Ed also acknowledged the state's partisan ways, saying Wolf carries the hopes and wishes of all Pennsylvanians "or at least most Pennsylvanians."

Wolf, too, was relatively brief (15 minutes), conciliatory, even self-deprecating.

He said to those who did not or do not believe in his goals or his pledge to be "a different kind of leader . . . I hope I'm able to give you a reason to believe over the next four years."

He laid out broad themes of mutual respect and working together to get the state "back on track" (read: please buy into taxing natural gas and spending more on schools).

But he noted, as he turned to face legislative leaders seated to his left, "We will debate those ideas, I know, in the days to come."

Overall the speech was simple and direct, yet somehow strong and ambitious.

It sounded like him, like he wrote every word.

"I ran for governor because I refuse to be part of the first generation of Pennsylvanians forced to tell their kids that they need to go somewhere else to succeed," he said.

He said his administration will focus on "jobs that pay, schools that teach and government that works."

But he wasn't Pollyannaish.

"I understand why fewer than 42 percent of Pennsylvanians turned out in the last election. Our experience has made us cynical, but we cannot allow that cynicism to deflate our democratic spirit or destroy our capacity for effective self-governance," he said.

He also said government should not do everything, "but it cannot do nothing, either," adding, "that was a double negative, I know."

And, as a first-time elective officeholder, he stressed being "an unconventional governor": forklift operator, hardware-store manager, Peace Corps volunteer.

He said he's "not a product of our political system," though as a multimillionaire businessman he was long a campaign donor and served in Rendell's Cabinet as revenue secretary.

The speech had zero specifics. No numbers. No stats. No talk of crisis. No calls for new taxes. No promises other than promising to be "a different kind of governor."

On Day One, he was that.

He arrived in his Golden Eagle Jeep Wrangler. After his address, he signed orders banning gifts to employees and reforming the award of outside legal contracts.

The day included no celebrities and no parades. A "celebration" in Hershey last night replaced the traditional black-tie ball.

Does this tone of simplicity and straight talk translate into jobs that pay, schools that teach and government that works while the state faces a $2 billion-plus budget problem?

No one can answer that yet.

But as Mayor Nutter said, "There's a sense of optimism and enthusiasm that we haven't seen in the past few years. It seems like everyone's eyes are open and looking to do the right thing."

At least it seems that way here at the start.

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