Who knew?

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal got it right this time. He declared a state of emergency ahead of a monster winter storm, as did President Obama.

Lo and behold! Georgians got the message, stayed off the roads and spared themselves a whole lot of the chaos that enveloped the state during the first monster storm that pounded it in January.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/deep-freeze/bone-chilling-winter-blast-wipes-out-power-south-n28156

Deal, a Republican, today thanked his constituents for heeding the call to stay off the roads and highways. For their part, Georgians ought to thank Deal for alerting them in advance of the trouble that was arriving — rather than ignoring the forecasters’ predictions prior to the January storm, which is what Deal did.

His state’s residents paid a huge price for the traffic jams that clogged the state’s interstate highway system in Atlanta. Deal was left with a huge public relations nightmare, as was Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.

They weren’t about to snooker the public a second time.

It’s good to know that public officials actually can learn from their mistakes.