Joe Garofoli, San Francisco Chronicle:
Typically when a governor overwhelmingly wins re-election, they spend their election night victory speech teasing what they will do in their next term.
Not so with Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday. Both used their post-victory glow to throw shade on each other. But as they ponder their next political moves, they offered a preview of where their fight — and the larger political narrative — is heading: over what “freedom” really means in this moment.
It is a battle that — depending on whether President Biden decides to seek re-election — could be fought all the way to the White House.
To DeSantis, freedom has found a home in Florida, which he boasted Tuesday has become “the promised land” for people “fleeing states and cities governed by leftist politicians.”
“They’ve seen their taxpayers abused. They’ve seen medical authoritarianism imposed and they’ve seen American principles discarded,” DeSantis said. “The woke agenda has caused millions of Americans to leave these jurisdictions for greener pastures.”
If you turn up the sound you can almost hear DeSantis say, “(cough) California (cough).”
Unlike those living in leftist-governed locales, DeSantis said, in Florida, “we have embraced freedom.”
DeSantis uses “freedom” largely in economic and cultural terms. He means the absence of taxes and government mandates. It’s a familiar refrain in conservative circles. In 2005, President George W. Bush used the word “freedom” 27 times in his 21-minute inaugural address, per the transcript on NPR.org. That’s seven more times than Martin Luther King Jr. did in his seminal “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963.
“We have maintained law and order. We have protected the rights of parents. We have respected our taxpayers and we reject woke ideology,” DeSantis said. “We’d fight the woke in the legislature. We fight the woke in the schools. We fight the woke in the corporations. We will never ever surrender to the woke mob.
“Florida,” he said, “is where woke goes to die.”
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For a quick reminder of what woke really means, let’s ask Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee, whose explanation is in the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
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“Being woke means understanding all the issues each and every day and fighting against injustice each and every day knowing what we’re dealing with,” Lee said.
„understanding all the issues each and every day“?