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| Jubilant Tim Kaine, Virginia's new Senator |
Once again, we have elected three of the crankiest, most contentious, far right wing congressmen in that body in Bob Goodlatte, Robert Hurt and Morgan Griffith. The reason Obama's presidency will never ascend beyond "good" is because of a House of Representatives peopled by representatives like these three. Their philosophy of tiny government--or no government at all--has resulted in a clampdown on the effectiveness of our government and a lack of movement on crucial issues that is, has been and will continue to be crippling.
Roanoke City and Montgomery County were the only localities in this end of the state go to for Kaine and Obama, but the urban areas of Virginia forged a strong alliance, much as they did nationally, to elect the moderate forces. The far right remains strong in rural states and rural areas of urban states.
Obama managed to squeeze out a health care bill against this opposition, but his legislative accomplishments since then have been measured in baby steps and generally with no GOP support at all. During the most recent four years, Congressional Republicans have been slavish to the basic philosophy that their only duty to their constituents was to defeat Obama by blocking every move he made, up to and including legislation they agreed with.
Let us hope that this latest sound whipping from the American public will force them into a re-evaluation of that position and help them understand that they are in Washington to serve the people, not to beat the president. All three of our representatives could be good and effective in their jobs if they would only do it. Maybe a solid push from the electorate would help them understand that as a good idea.
I find it interesting that, although Schmookler won in the City of Roanoke, more than 4,000 people voted for a presidential candidate but did not vote for either of the congressional candidates. If there is that much ballot drop-off in congressional races, imagine how much there would be in city council races if we moved them to November.
ReplyDeleteBill: Nobody ever heard of Schmookler. He ran the lowest key campaign I've ever seen. I never saw him speak, didn't see or hear a campaign ad (even in print) and had no idea what he stood for. I understand he is a writer. He couldn't be selling any books if that's how he's approaching marketing. Schmookler (the name didn't do him any good either, by the way) was never a serious candidate. To run against Goodlatte, a candidate must begin now, be fully funded, dig up a lot of dirt (and my guess is there's some to find, especially in his dealings with the big money boys), shake a lot of hands, get involved in the district and RUN FOR THE FRIGGIN' OFFICE. Schmookler didn't do any of that.
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