Washington State swore in Jay Inslee as our 23rd governor yesterday amid a hail of talking points. We also bid adieu to Chris Gregoire, who was widely regarded as an apologist for compromises with a GOP minority, a pushover for Tim Eyman's anti-tax agenda, a coward when dealing with the federal government, and a generally absent leader. But hey, she wasn't Dino Rossi—and that can't be said enough. Will Inslee be a better leader, a leader who can campaign to build strong legislative majorities and hustle to pass progressive bills?

At his swearing in speech—which, oddly, did not include swearing—Inslee said some great stuff: like hoping to sign a reproductive parity act! He also said some squirrelly stuff: like parroting Republican talking points on education, saying that adequately funding our schools amounts to "gimmicks or blind allocation of money" that was less important than "innovation and reform." Ugh. And to make that worse, his staff said last week that Inslee would veto new taxes to pay for schools.

Which means Inslee's future performance is anybody's guess—so let's guess!