Rebranding is the latest buzzword in political campaigns. Everywhere
you look, some politician or politician's spouse is gearing up to play
the rebranding game. They try to change who they are and reinvent what
they've said. They're hoping voters have forgotten the old brand and
will only remember the new trademark on Election Day.

Michelle Obama has lined up talk shows across the country to endure
dumb interviews in which she tries to prove she would be just another
Princeton-educated first lady instead of an angry black activist in the
White House.

John McCain is trying to back away from his image as a George W.
Bush add-on. Before that, he was the un-Bush. Now McCain is trying to
take a position between the Bush battler and the Gore greenie.

Watch Barack Obama try to modify his image by picking a moderate white guy, possibly a Southerner, as his running mate.

Georgia's own Sonny Perdue may be attempting the most dramatic
rebranding on today's political stage. You have to wonder why. He is
not seeking re-election to a third term because the law prohibits it.
The General Assembly dislikes Sonny too much to reward him with a crack
at four more years. So why is Sonny suddenly so busy?

Why is he off in his helicopter just about every morning with a
fistful of new promises and policies that should have been taken up six
years ago? Sounds like a candidate for something, right?

When he first ran in 2002, Perdue promised to upgrade public
education and "return local control" to schools. Instead, schools
deteriorated steadily, and "local control" turned out to be another way
of saying "cut, cut, cut." Perdue has cut schools' funds every year he
has been in office, with reductions now totaling $1.5 billion. Nearly
100 school districts across the state have had to raise local property
taxes to make up for the loss of state funds. Local systems have been
forced to abolish "frill" education programs for students. French and
fine arts just are too expensive for Bubba's kids, right, folks? Now,
near the end of his reign, Perdue pledges to fix the schools. It's part
of his great rebranding plan.

With less than two years left in office, Perdue has rolled out a
gigantic transportation program that entails more than simply slapping
another lane of asphalt on overbuilt interstate highways. Perdue's
transportation plan would not be completed until he is long gone from
the Gold Dome. The next governor would be saddled not only with
implementing the plan, but with financing it, too.

The Metropolitan Atlanta Chamber of Commerce recently pointed out
Perdue virtually has wiped out the state's bonding capacity for roads.
Georgia's debt service exceeds $1 billion for the first time in
history, and it promises to grow greater by the year even without
Perdue's master transportation plan. But two weeks ago, Perdue saw the
light. He unveiled a transportation proposal to undo Democrats' old
wrongs and oversights.

When he ran for governor, Sonny painted himself as an expert on the
problems of indigent, troubled children. He assailed Gov. Roy Barnes
for declaring blithely on TV, "Children die every day."

Georgia's program for troubled children still is a mess, producing a
scandalous tragedy at least once a month. At a recent press conference
at which he tried to explain away more children dying while in state
custody, an angry, red-faced Perdue declared:

"If the expectation is that we as a state are going to keep every
criminal out there from harming or killing their child, that's probably
an unrealistic expectation." Still, the new Perdue promised new reform.

Now, tell us again, Gov. Sonny, how you derided Barnes for saying
pretty much the same thing you did last week - unattended kids, trapped
in a nightmarish prison atmosphere, lose their lives from time to time.

Oh, there's one more thing that needs emergency attention -
Georgia's mental health program. Nearly 60 years ago, Gov. Ernest
Vandiver received wide praise for cleaning up Georgia's "snake pit"
mental hospitals. He also initiated plans to establish a model system
of mental health treatment.

In time, that system collapsed, but the new Sonny recently promised
to repair it. The rebranded Sonny suddenly is everywhere promising
everything, just like in 2002. You have to wonder whether Georgians
will believe him this time.