Katie Hobbs tells Arizona she is a coward – and it's Kari Lake's fault

Twitter is largely a soapbox of the left. It’s run by liberals with an authoritarian impulse to censor mostly right-wing voices. Most of the traffic is left wing, locked in a contest to see who can most artfully knock the blocks off conservatives.

In Arizona, it seems a contest of who can be most glib and sassy.

Thus, it’s with real sadness that I report that social-media Democrats who flex their stuff on Twitter have virtually gone silent on the biggest development in the Arizona governor’s race.

They’ve stopped flipping the Twitter bird at their opponents. They’ve tucked their middle finger and slinked away.

Katie Hobbs refuses to debate Kari Lake

When the 2022 Arizona governor’s race is over and in the books, what a tragedy it will have been that the Democratic candidate for governor was the one who grew timid and refused to debate her Republican opponent.

Because had it been the other way, had Republican Kari Lake refused to debate Democrat Katie Hobbs, the wise-cracking snark machines on the left would have been in hog heaven, doing bellyflops in the mudhole.

Had Kari Lake refused to debate and then had the audacity to blame her opponent Katie Hobbs for her own cowardice, we would be looking at a towering hog pile of liberal delirium. Pure joy.

Tragically, it was not to be.

Rather, it is the Democrat Katie Hobbs who refuses to debate and, in one of the great displays of taffy logic, blames Kari Lake for going wobbly.

She called herself a coward in 52 words

There is more than one way to say you’re a coward.

One is to say, “I’m a coward.”

Another is to say, as Team Hobbs did, “For weeks, Arizona was ridiculed as clips of the GOP primary debate circulated on social media. As a candidate and as governor, Sec. Hobbs will never participate in something that will make Arizona the butt of late-night TV jokes and national ridicule. She has too much respect for the people of Arizona.”

Got that?

That’s the economical, 52-word way to say, “I’m a coward, it’s the Republicans’ fault and, anyway, my fear is all in service to the people of Arizona.”

Another view: Katie Hobbs talking tough at the border? That's believable

The white flag has never this high-minded.

I’m not sure what Team Hobbs is thinking here.

Arizonans have bought snake oil before. Alt-fuels, Ev Mecham and hockey in the West Valley. But this is Grade-A snake oil.

This appears to be snake oil to cover their real strategy – the Biden basement strategy, in which Biden hunkered down in his Delaware basement for an entire election season and waited for Donald Trump to self-destruct.

That might work here in Arizona, where the Republican is hefting a sledge hammer at campaign rallies and calling herself a “happy warrior.”

How Hobbs undermines her own image

But it’s a bad look for Hobbs, because what persona she does have, and it is remarkably thin, is built upon her robust stand against election deniers such as Lake.

It’s one thing to stand up for democracy on MSNBC with fellow liberal Joy Reid throwing you a few toss-pillows and warming up your hot cocoa. It’s another to confront a Trump-like denier on live television.

And what Hobbs is telling us now, only weeks before Election Day, is she doesn’t have the stomach for it.

That’s unfortunate, because that would seem a baseline qualification for the job.

You have to have the stomach for it.

You have to be willing to stand in the parapet and face the flaming arrows if you want to be governor of Arizona.

Hobbs has seemed timid all election season. She refused to debate her Democratic opponent in the primary. And she is often accused of being AWOL on the campaign trail.

Atlantic Monthly described how she hit golf balls on the driving range while her broad-shouldered bodyguard, Lurch ... no ... Jesse, stood by silently and “never once removed his sunglasses.”

Does she have the guts to compete?

Maybe timidity is what Arizonans are looking for, but I doubt it. We’re facing a generational crisis of water scarcity that will require a strong hand on the Ninth Floor. Does Katie Hobbs have the stomach for that?

We’ve got a teacher shortage and dismal test scores post-pandemic. Is Katie Hobbs equal to the challenge?

She doesn’t inspire confidence.

She looked good in the friendly confines of liberal cable news. Now she needs William Wallace standing next to her at the highland games, saying, “I was wondering, if you can do that when it matters?”

This will surprise you, but I have something Katie Hobb’s own handlers don’t have. I have confidence in her. I believe she can do this. She didn’t get this far on the cusp of winning the governor’s office without having guts.

Arizonans aren’t going to expect a former social worker to display the polish and confidence of a former TV reporter and anchorwoman. But they do want to know if she has the courage to fight when it matters.

If Hobbs won't speak to issues, why is she here?

Katie Hobbs should debate.

She should stick to the issues. Leave the theatrics to her opponent. Paint her vision for Arizona.

Otherwise, why is she here?

This is a contest of ideas, and in elections, debate is one of the ways in which we compete. You don’t have to match glib witticisms with your opponent, you can stand as a foil to her erratic ideals and ravings.

Katie Hobbs is a serious person. She, herself, decided she wanted to run for governor.

To compete.

She needs to compete.

Phil Boas is an editorial columnist. Email him at phil.boas@arizonarepublic.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: If Katie Hobbs won't compete, why did she run for governor?