Last night, Governor Mitch Daniels gave his annual State of the State address. We all join the governor and the leadership of the General Assembly in applauding the hard work of our legislators in this short session. The long hours have already resulted in great progress, and the coming weeks are sure to produce more of the same.

Unfortunately, while Governor Daniels always seems to show up when credit is being handed out, he's nowhere to be found when the discussion turns to the problems facing his administration and our state.

In many ways, last night's speech was more remarkable for what we didn't hear than what was actually said.

Although he spoke for nearly a half-hour, Governor Daniels failed to touch on some of the most critical issues confronting Hoosier families every day. While Democrats in the House and Senate have continued their efforts to save and create Hoosier jobs at every opportunity, Mitch Daniels yet again failed to outline a jobs plan that amounts to more than the status quo.

Hardworking families all across this state are hurting, and it is long past time that Governor Daniels joined the Democratic leadership in searching for ways to immediately jump-start Indiana's economy.

Instead of saying how bad things could be, Hoosiers deserve to hear how good things will be.

Hoosiers also deserved to hear about the future of our embattled Family and Social Services Administration in the aftermath of Daniels' privatization scheme's failure, the future of our state budget in the absence of federal stimulus money, and the future of public education during this fiscal crisis.

In short, Hoosiers deserved less back-patting and more problem-solving, and Governor Daniels didn't deliver.