“What 3 words best describe your feelings as you get ready to leave?,” asked Andy Hiller.
“Mixed, (laughs) ready, proud,” said Gov. Deval Patrick.
And confident!
Hiller: “Do you think you’d be a good president?”
Gov. Patrick: “I think- you know- could I be a good president? Yeah, I think I’d be a good president.”
Gone from his office are the $10,000 drapes that got him into trouble early:
Hiller: “Ok, let’s go back to the beginning- are those the same drapes?”
Gov. Patrick: (laughs) No!
Hiller: “Were the drapes the worst time?…”
Gov. Patrick: “Oh gracious no. It’s seeing people suffer, seeing them hurt, seeing them afraid. And we’ve had those experiences and come through the other side.”
As accomplishments, the governor cites student achievement, the state’s low unemployment rate, and high bond rating…But there have been failures, too: at the State crime lab, the Department of Children and Families, and the state-regulated New England Compounding Center.
“Things are going to go wrong,” said the governor. “They’re going to be embarrassing to me, they’re going to be embarrassing to the leader. But you have a choice, you can brush them under the rug, and not take them very seriously, or you can take them very seriously as we had, and make lasting reforms.”
Hiller: “What’s the best perk of this job?
Gov. Patrick: “The best thing is you don’t have to go through security at the airport. (Laughs) It’s so great! And that all comes to a crashing halt in just a few weeks… “
Hiller: “What doesn’t Charlie Baker know that he’s about to find out?”
Gov. Patrick: “Maybe it will be different for him, but he may find out that almost everything he does, somebody views as “news.” You know, I got a haircut once and it was in the paper…”
Hiller: “That was because you had hair before then.”
Gov. Patrick: (Laughs) “That’s true. I suppose that’s right.”
Then, unexpectedly:
Gov. Patrick: “Stop me if I told you this story before. But uh, do you remember…”
Hiller: “About when you cried when you met the fisherman?”
Gov. Patrick: (laughs) “This one’s true.” (background laughter) (points to Andy) “You are so bad!”
Nothing has changed more at the State House in the last 8 years than Deval Patrick.
Before he was elected governor, he was–politically– a nobody from nowhere.
Now, he’s a credible candidate for any office, the Cabinet or even the Supreme Court.
Not bad.