WSJ: Snyder just an old-fashioned Midwestern Republican

Wall Street Journal blogger Patrick O'Connor has written a fairly glowing piece about Gov. Rick Snyder, calling him an unorthodox Republican who shuns the hyper-partisan conservative orthodoxy of the day.

Pro-labor liberals will hate O'Connor's penchant for downplaying Snyder's approval of the Michigan right-to-work law. But conservatives and tea party types will be equally incensed in the way that the blog talks about taxes and Common Core.

Here's a sample:
"In an era of heightened partisanship, Mr. Snyder represents something of a throwback – the centrist Midwestern governor more focused on balancing the demands of his rural, urban and suburban constituents than making a splash on the national stage.
"Rick Snyder, after all, is no Scott Walker, the Wisconsin governor who parlayed his landmark fight with the state’s public-sector unions into near front-runner status for the Republican presidential nomination.
"Mr. Snyder, for example, is unapologetic in his support for Common Core, arguing high standards are better than low ones – a view he shares with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, one of the leading contenders for the GOP nomination. Mr. Snyder, who said he has discussed the issue with Mr. Bush, likes to remind voters that under the program states and local school boards have the flexibility to design their own curriculum. And he mocks Republicans, like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who call for its repeal.
"'There’s nothing to repeal,' he said. 'It was done by the states.'"