The Cansler Pick

Sometimes you just have to ignore the media.

I don't know whether Lanier Cansler will end up being a good pick for the head of Health and Human Services or not. But Bev Perdue clearly thinks he will be, and if she does, she was right to pick him even if it means she takes some hits from the media for the next week or two.

If Cansler ends up doing a good job and bringing the kind of change that's needed to that department, no one will remember that there were initial concerns about his appointment.

Folks will govern better if they worry more about what the paper is going to say two years from now than a day from now. Getting sucked up in the 24 hour news cycle is a good recipe for over cautiousness and inertia. I was worried at times that the Perdue campaign did fall into that trap, but hopefully the Perdue administration will not. The safest thing is often not the best thing.