Nothing to see, here. Big Jim has lost his mojo.

Jan. 13—If Gov. Jim Justice wants to be the next U.S. senator from West Virginia in 2024, as he has hinted ad nauseam these past several months, he's going to have to act like a chief executive officer, like someone who can tackle complex, chronic issues in the state. He needs to offer up sound policy prescriptions to cure each, implore Republican legislators to fall in line, rally the masses to his support and then — and this is critical — see them through to fruition so that the state can mark progress, celebrate success and then lay the ground to take a couple more healthy steps forward.

But we got none of that this past Wednesday night in this, the governor's seventh State of the State address. Instead, he droned on and on for an hour and 20 minutes, leaning into one tired folksy mannerism after another without saying much of anything of consequence, doing a little bit of campaigning while rolling out an agenda that was absent any new and innovative ideas to address old, persistent problems. What we got instead was a laundry list of past due slips on PEIA, pay raises for state employees, putting more money into tourism and economic development, and — once again — a pitch for his 50 percent income tax cut that, proportionately, favors rich guys like him who can afford a stay at The Greenbrier resort over the working-class stiffs who go into his mines.

Yawn.

Jim Justice fell flat on Wednesday, leaving the ship of state rudderless.

For all of what the governor could have addressed, we were left to wonder about who will care for and provide a home for all of those 6,500 children in foster care.

What about the severe understaffing at Child Protective Services, where children who need an advocate instead face abuse — physical and psychological — each and every day?

What ideas does the governor have about reaching out to those with addictions and providing them with treatment, care and ongoing support so that they might turn their lives around and be productive members of society?

What about our overcrowded and understaffed prisons where inmates, some of whom are simply awaiting a court appearance, can end up dead as has happened time and again this past year at the notorious Southern Regional Jail?

And what of education?

For West Virginia to realize an economic revitalization, to convince businesses, industries and families to move here from other states, the Legislature and private businesses need to invest heavily first and foremost in public schools. We all know the damning statistics, and we know we are trailing our peers badly. We all know that the going-to-college rate is abysmal, and we know that our students are poorly prepared to take on the rigors of a college curriculum. The percentage of the state's population with a college degree is among the worst. We know that, too.

Of course our workforce participation rate is second lowest of all — thank God for Mississippi — because we have not invested in people, in human capital, and so we have more people who are ill prepared to enter the workforce. You get what you pay for.

Education is not a passing fancy but a generational concern, one that is not solved with the wave of a magic wand. It has been ignored for generations, here, and will not be fixed with one budget, one governor, one Legislature. It will take years to set matters straight, to pump life into and bolster the school workforce with qualified and dedicated teachers, counselors, assistants and administrators.

And it will take money. Lots of money.

To the governor's credit, he endorsed a plan to increase the number of teachers' assistants in K-3 classrooms, and while he has called for a 5 percent pay raise, those are but small pieces of a larger puzzle. We have, for crying out loud, some 1,500 teaching positions in the state that are either vacant or filled by someone who is unqualified. How do we go about filling those positions to the benefit of students in our schools right now? We heard not a word from the governor the other night.

What we did hear was a governor pandering to a socially conservative base, promising a bill that would require teachers to put all curriculum online "so we can see every single thing that's being put into our little kids' heads." It's called "curriculum transparency" and it has nothing to do with advancing educational practices and student performance, but everything to do with marking off another box on the culture wars checklist so popular with other Republican legislatures across the country.

We need serious people in these very serious times. We need leaders with ideas and a means and a will to put them in place.

Jim Justice used to be that guy, that leader.

But judging his performance the other night, he is no longer that — now or in 2024.