Politics & Power Quote by John Engler

Engler’s line is a neat piece of political judo: it takes the messy sprawl of economic life and shrinks it into a controlled comparison Michigan can plausibly win. “All 50 states had the same national economy” is the setup, a framing device that tries to neutralize the most common alibi in state politics. If the macro forces were identical everywhere, then any divergence becomes a referendum on state leadership. He’s not merely claiming improvement; he’s laundering credit by subtracting out the “yeah, but the national economy” factor before the audience can raise it.

The phrase “on virtually any measurement you wish to look at” does more than project confidence. It’s a preemptive strike against skeptics and reporters: pick your metric, he implies, and I’ll still come out ahead. “Virtually” is the lawyerly escape hatch that keeps the boast intact if a few indicators don’t cooperate. It’s also a subtle invitation to stop asking which measurements, exactly, because the aura of comprehensiveness is the point.

Context matters: Michigan’s fortunes are unusually tethered to industrial cycles, especially autos, so statewide leaders are forever fighting the perception that they’re passengers in a global market. Engler’s intent is to position Michigan as a state that outperformed its peers despite structural headwinds, implying policy competence rather than mere luck. The subtext is partisan, too: prosperity becomes evidence that his governing model worked, and anyone arguing otherwise is cast as denying the scoreboard.