Before Gavin Newsom disappears from Sacramento, it’s worth recounting the many plates he had spinning throughout his eight years as governor.

Can a politician be too accomplished?

The question isn’t a riddle, or a joke. It’s the conundrum facing California as Gavin Newsom departs the governorship.

When Newsom was a kid performing amateur magic shows, he introduced himself as “The Great Gavini.” During his eight years as governor, the Great Gavini has conjured such a long list of new policies and programs that the human mind can’t quite process the full picture.

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That’s one reason Californians have yet to process the administration’s historic progress or to figure out how to build on it. Another is that his governorship has spanned incredibly difficult times, and almost every Californian has some beef with him. (I’ll never forgive him for failing to reopen the schools in January 2021, when COVID vaccines became available.) Still another reason is that his personality can be grating, so why give this political devil his considerable due?

Your columnist has been among those who have resisted reckoning with Newsom. In my defense, when you’re caring for teenagers and aging parents, it’s hard to make time to appreciate a master class in progressive governance. After years of hearing our governor rattle off accomplishments as if he were maitre’d at a restaurant with the world’s longest........

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