Matthew Tully

It was, without question, one of the worst speeches I’ve ever heard a politician give. It was empty and phony, an out-of-touch act of political self-preservation, and filled with cheap applause lines and small-ball notions at a time when Indiana needs boldness and big ideas.

Gov. Mike Pence had months to prepare for his annual State of the State address. He went out of his way in recent weeks to build up expectations for it. But in the end, the speech he delivered was as devoid of ideas and guts as it was any semblance of leadership.

Pence failed Indiana on Tuesday night. Yes, once again, he failed the state so many of us love and want to see move forward. He failed for many reasons. Here are a few.

1. We’ll start with Pence’s most blatant fence-straddling attempt to not further damage his political career: his tortured explanation of what he would and would not accept in the way of new civil rights protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Hoosiers and visitors. Oh, he insisted that we Hoosiers don’t discriminate. We never would do such a thing. Still, the governor who signed a religious freedom bill last year that some supporters cheered for doing just that then seemed to suggest he would veto any bill that prevented businesses from refusing to serve members of the LGBT community.

Worse, Pence didn’t have the political will or courage to lay out wording that he would accept. Rather, he told the legislature to deal with the issue and get back to him. As the business community begs for action, making clear daily that this matter continues to haunt and hurt Indiana, Pence responded to nine months of “listening” by saying little and doing even less. In doing so, he simply guaranteed that this issue would continue to hurt Indiana. He also made clear once again that the leaders at the Statehouse are House Speaker Brian Bosma and Senate President David Long.

2. On infrastructure, Pence led by ideology at a time when Indiana needs action. Unable to come up with innovative funding sources like his predecessor, Mitch Daniels, Pence is responding to a crisis of crumbling roads and bridges with relative baby steps. Thanks to a budget surplus he largely inherited, Pence has some pain-free money to spend on infrastructure in the coming years. But it’s not enough, and even his fellow Republicans in the legislature understand that.

And, so, legislative Republicans have proposed a minor tax increase. The idea would tie the gas tax rate to the rate of inflation and address a recent decline in revenue caused by more fuel-efficient vehicles. It’s a rational but gutsy move in an election year, one that shows that some in the legislature are putting the job of running the state ahead of politics.

So what did Pence say: “Let’s invest in our roads and bridges, and let’s do it without raising taxes.” That’s a sound bite, folks, and it’s a decision that will cost Indiana deeply in the decades to come. And, yes, I know it sounds wonderful when politicians insist that we can fix huge problems without an iota of sacrifice. It might be savvy election-year politics, but it’s not leadership.

3. On issues of education and crime, Pence offered little. His education strategy seems to be to do anything he can to quell the anger teachers have aimed his way this election year. And while he gave his speech in a city that just suffered through a brutally violent year, his response was a heartless ding at the violence in Chicago and a vacuous message aimed at all those drug dealers who were surely tuned in Tuesday night.

“I have a message for some who might be watching,” he said. “If you are selling drugs to our kids, we are coming after you.”

In Indianapolis, Police Chief Troy Riggs is tackling the crime and drug problems with thoughtful, innovative and well-rounded policies and plans. At the state level, Pence is offering little more than words and old ideas. On this issue, as with so many others, the governor seems more interested in saying the right things than pushing important policies.

4. Time and again, Pence made clear he is not up to the job of moving Indiana forward. “Indiana’s timeless charm remains,” he said toward the end of his speech, a perfect line for a politician who seems locked in the past.

The governor said the “issues confronting our state are complex,” but he offered only simplicity. He talked about big challenges that Indiana must take on but then attacked them with fluff. He insisted that ingrained in our Hoosier DNA is an eagerness to “solve problems” but from roads to gun violence to the deep concerns of the business community he offered few solutions. He talked about the state’s epidemic of heroin and opiate abuse, an epidemic that is costing Indiana greatly in so many ways, but he offered little new. While some governors have fiercely attacked that issue, our governor is moving far too slow.

This was a speech free of any big ideas. It was a speech that lacked even one big ambition, unless you count as big an apparent attempt to salvage with cautious behavior a bruised political career. It was a speech that didn’t come close to delivering what Hoosiers deserve.

5. Finally, the speech was a sad reminder of how much energy Indiana has lost these last three years since Pence replaced Daniels in the governor’s office. Eight years of action and robust debate have been replaced by three years of ideology and nibbling around big issues, or just ignoring them. Daniels was not perfect. but at least the debates were big, the ideas never-ending and the overriding objective was to speed up a traditionally slow-moving state.

A State of the State address is an opportunity for a governor to express a clear vision for the state and for its future. Unfortunately, for Pence, this address was a reminder that, as I’ve said before, he should never have left Congress.

You can reach me at matthew.tully@indystar.com or on Twitter: @matthewltully.