This article originally appeared in USA Today May 19, 2025.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer may as well have already declared herself as a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028.

In a much-ballyhooed speech last month in Washington, D.C., Whitmer promised to get America building again, with the slogan “Build, America, Build.” Whitmer certainly knows how to tap into popular sentiment. She also has good political instincts.

But when it comes to the all-important work of passing real reforms, her time as governor shows that she has been more focused on building her image.

Whitmer promised to 'fix the damn roads.' She hasn't.

Whitmer ran for governor promising to “fix the damn roads.” When she began, Michigan was fixing roads roughly as fast as they fell apart. It wouldn’t have taken much more to declare victory and point to continuous improvement. But she failed anyway, vetoing extra money Republicans authorized for roads.

Whitmer deflected criticism about failing her campaign promise by forcing Michigan taxpayers to take on more debt, with the bonds paid by future taxes earmarked to road funds. This improves roads over the short term at the cost of the long term. Michigan roads are now expected to deteriorate over time.

Higher prices are hurting residents, and Whitmer says that she’s doing something to drive down costs. “I’m laser-focused on lower costs,” she posted on X, “and making life a little easier for every Michigander.”

Yet, she has raised the state income tax and required union wages on construction and broadband projects, which raises the overall cost to taxpayers.

The policies she has pointed to as “lowering costs” instead transfer money from some taxpayers to others to pay for preschool, college and other benefits. Subsidizing demand without expanding supply only raises costs, with taxpayer subsidies hiding the price increases from the beneficiaries.

It’s good that Whitmer has called to build more housing to address the spike in home prices. But Michigan’s housing market has stultified. Developers built only 5% more homes in 2024 than the previous year, and the number of new homes built remains less than half of what it was in 2005.

It would be nice to be able to cheer Whitmer on in housing policy. There is bipartisan legislation to allow more and more types of homes to be built without extra permission. It shouldn’t take much effort from the governor to get them passed. But her call to “Build, America, Build” is a slogan backed by little policy.

State subsidies to GM, Ford fail to create jobs

The hollowness of Whitmer’s pledges is best seen by her attempts to boost manufacturing in Michigan. “I will continue working with anyone to make transformational investments in our economy, create good-paying jobs, and empower working families,” she said after handing $660 million in taxpayer cash to General Motors in 2022. No jobs have been created as a result of this subsidy.

Indeed, none of Whitmer’s major deals have created any jobs. The governor has handed out money to Stellantis, Acrisure, Ford, battery manufacturers and Corning. The state reports no jobs have yet been created from these deals.

Nor should anyone expect these jobs to materialize. Political deals are about appearances. I looked at the major subsidy deals made from 2000 to 2020 and found that companies produced just 9% of the jobs that they announced. Political deal-making is about the show, not about results.

Whitmer now implores government to “get ship done,” and build more vessels in the United States. She likely put more thought into the pun than what it would take to get the American shipbuilding industry competitive again. Shipyards already receive problematic federal protections, and unless lawmakers have a plan to do something about that, they don’t have a plan to boost American shipbuilding.

Failure to deliver is the quintessential feature of an empty suit. That’s what American voters would get with a President Whitmer. She may be promising to build up America, but she’s shown no ability to build anything other than her own persona.

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