Barack Obama will be in the Commonwealth today and tomorrow, leading up to his announcement of a running mate and also to the start of the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Monday:
Mr. Obama is scheduled to hold town-hall meetings Wednesday in Martinsville and Lynchburg, and will stay in Virginia for events Thursday.Mr. Obama will be joined in Martinsville by former Gov. Mark Warner and in Lynchburg by Sen. Jim Webb, considered vice presidential candidates until withdrawing themselves from consideration early in the campaigns.
Mr. Kaine has said he will not join Mr. Obama on Wednesday. However, the senator's campaign said late Tuesday the governor will join Mr. Obama at a town-hall meeting on the economy in Chester on Thursday. Mr. Obama's other appearance that day will be in Chesapeake.
If you needed any more evidence - besides the dozens of field offices they've set up in our state - that the Obama campaign is seriously competing for Virginia's 13 electoral votes, I think this might be it. Also, recall that the first stops for Obama after clinching the nomination in early June were in southwestern and northern Virginia. And, of course, Gov. Kaine is being seriously talked about as a top possibility for Barack Obama's running mate.
Speaking of which, that great political guru Tom Davis said yesterday that "You'd have to concede that having a governor from Virginia running on the ticket would be of some help to Obama in Virginia." On the other hand, Sen. John Warner said that "it's hard to see how [Kaine] would bring strength to the ticket in the national security area, which I think the American public will be looking for in the selection." Overall, Sen. Warner said that the Obama vs. McCain contest in Virginia "is a good tight race" and that "every vote counts." I certainly agree with that assessment!
UPDATE: Dave "Mudcat" Saunders says, "Martinsville is the perfect place for [Obama] to go populist...He needs to talk about how the big guys have screwed the little guys and how we're going to screw them back, and Martinsville is the best place in the world to do that." Tom "DeLay" Davis counters, "It doesn't take a lot of courage to go into Martinsville and talk about trade...What would be courageous is for him to come to Fairfax County where you have 362 foreign-owned companies and tens of thousands of employees ... and talk about trade up here." Yeah, right Tom, it would take a great deal of courage to talk about trade in Fairfax County. (***snark***) Sort of like what Jim Webb did in 2006? Whatever.
What: Tom Perriello will be the sole speaker in the pre-program portion of the Barack Obama town hall meeting.When: Wednesday, August 20, 5:30 p.m.
Where: E.C. Glass High School, 2111 Memorial Ave, Lynchburg, VA
Who: Tom Perriello, Democratic candidate for Virginia's 5th CD
Sen. Jim Webb
Sen. Barack ObamaAbout: Born and raised in the fifth district, Tom Perriello is a national security consultant and founder of faith-based organizations.
Why in the world would the Liberty Republican Right-Wing-Nut University heirs to Jerry Falwell expect Sen. Obama to have an event on their campus?
The place has never been welcoming to academic freedom and intellectual openness before. Why start now???
Of course, we all expect Obama to also come up with some solutions, which he has, including eliminating the tax exemptions that actually favor companies who off shore their jobs.
These objections are thinly veiled partisan attempts to rob Obama and the Democrats of a legitimate issue, which is their strongest issue to boot. I'm not buying it, Mudcat's not buying and neither should you.
BTW, nobody has played the politics of resentment better than conservative Republicans with their faux patriotisim, guns, gays and God wedge issues, designed to inspire fear in people not hope.
According to Politico.com, a text message went out this morning to reporters with the subject line, "Vice Presidential . . ." The text was, "Just kidding." That may be the source of the rumor.
The reason why the Obama and the Democrats will not grab the opportunity to take this winning position on energy is twofold: donations and cowardice.
While George Bush was flagrantly and blatantly violating the constitution, the rule of law, and international law the Democrats either hid behind the excuse that they couldn't stop a filibuster or they agreed with his policies.
When the President lies to the American people and to Congress to prosecute an illegal war, he deserves to be impeached yet the Democrats and in particular, Nancy Pelosi, refused to even consider charging the President with "high crimes and misdemeanors". As well, when the President perverted the use of signing statements to hijack the legislative functions of government, the Democratic Congress stood idly by while the President purloined their powers. In addition, when it became patently obvious that the Bush administration was using "enhanced interrogative techniques" or torture at prisons around the globe, they turned a blind eye. Why would anyone expect the Democrats to act any differently when the issue is whether or not to invest in renewable energy and desist from solving the energy crisis with more fossil fuels?
Another reason why Obama and the Democrats will continue to advocate offshore drilling despite their loudly proclaimed reservations and to fail to shift the focus to renewables is because oil money is pouring into their coffers and oil lobbyists staffing their campaign. It is true that Obama has promised "I don't take money from oil companies" but he is being less than candid. No candidate is allowed to accept donations from any corporations since passage of the Tillman Act of 1907. Instead, he is using the same tactic as the Republicans by accepting individual donations from oil company executives including a total of $30,850 from ExxonMobil and $9,900 from Shell. Obama has also reassured the voters that he does not accept money from PACs and lobbyists but he did accept $30,850 from ExxonMobil employees. As well, oil industry executives are collecting money from individuals and donating it to Obama's campaign. George Kaiser, chairman of Kaiser-Francis Oil Co. has bundled over $50,000 for the Obama campaign.
Obviously, Obama's vision is blurred somewhat from his acceptance of money from the oil industry. His vision is further impaired by using former lobbyists as advisors in his campaign. Despite the overwhelming support from the American people for a shift to renewable energy, Obama and the Democrats are advocating an energy policy that would not be anathema to the oil industry.
VERY TYPICAL behavior of Liberty University and Thomas Rd. Baptist Church. If they don't get their way or don't have attention focused on them...they manufacture an issue and cause harm.A big event like this and they are shut out...so they refocus the attention ( negative or not) on themselves.