That’s what basic professionalism and competence looks like — a frankly kind of boring dude who works well with others, listens to experts, and doesn’t view absolutely everything on Earth through the lens of “how can I make this about me?”

I’m a little cautious cheering too loudly for Inslee, because I remember all too well similar comparison pieces being written about Cuomo and Trump.

Still, nice to hear professionalism and competence getting their due.

For all that states are supposed to be laboratories of democracy, I sometimes think the rest of the country doesn’t like hearing results from out West. When California does something they can always dismiss it as sui generis–but Washington and Oregon are normal-sized states with a lot of problems the rest of the country shares, and there are a lot of local success stories that could be replicated elsewhere. Maybe COVID’s a start–it’s at least easier to argue that every state could be a Washington than that every state could be a Vietnam.