Obama fears McDonnell
By Brian Kirwin | Friday, April 9th, 2010 | PoliticsYou’re Barack Obama. You’re President of the United States. You just signed Health Care Reform. You’re in Prague to sign an arms treaty with Russia.
And you’re talking about Bob McDonnell????????? (Pilot)
Governors have national name ID at rock bottom low levels. Doesn’t benefit Obama one single bit to pick a fight with McDonnell, especially during an arms treaty trip.
I’ve never seen a President attack a Governor who’s been in office for all of 3 months, much less from overseas during an arms treaty signing.
Unless, of course, his advisers are telling him he has to knock McDonnell down and do it now. Why would they tell Obama that?
Campaign 2012 may have just begun.
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The right wants to jeer him. The left wants to censor him. Moderates usually want both. Brian Kirwin is a political consultant and public relations strategist in Virginia Beach with a lightning-rod flair. Brian also serves on the VB Arts & Humanities Commission and frequently appears on Hampton Roads theatrical stages, if only to prove that all actors aren’t liberals. Kirwin’s columns stir up debate and hit the political scene with no punches pulled.
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24 Responses to "Obama fears McDonnell"
The Left’s inner Fascist yearns for release.
Whether it’s the POTUS attacking his critics — in government, in media, or ordinary citizens -, the POTUS trying to inimidate the SCOTUS at the SOTU, Virginia Tech instituting a loyalty oath to diversity, the Roanoke Times posting the names and addresses of concealed carry permit holders on the internet, freedom is under assault in our land. We have never seen this before. Crunch time for Liberty.
Frankly, I have never seen a Governor make so many dramatic mistakes in his first three months in office to stimulate the national press to ask the President about one of them. Perhaps the inevitable conclusion is that despite his heralded public relations acument, the Governor is just not really ready for prime time, much less actually governing the Commonwealth of Virginia.
LOL Maybe you have never seen a newly sitting Gov step on his own career like McD had done over his latest proclimation. Frankly he is shooting his national career in the rear with this “ommission” of slavery. Do you think that little event will ever win over votes in the Northern areas of this country? I’m originaly from Ohio and we learned about the War between the States and how bad Virginia and the others were on slavery and for leaving the Union. I do not believe they will forget those lessons. Not a chance…
The President was right to answer the questions that were possed to him by the media. Otherwise you complain about his lack of leadership and honesty…
Not that it matters to me, but you just have to ask, “WTF was he thinking?” I just can’t figure out what he had to gain by doing this one as I really just seems meaningless like all the other ones that we announce and celebrate.
But on the positive side, now everyone all across America knows about Virginia’s negative history with salvery all over again. Maybe that will help bring in tourists who harken back to those days of uglyness… One more success story for our Virginia leadership team…
Obama respects Mcdonnell, he has to. Bob has an enviable bipartisan track record and a fresh groundswell of national media siphoning off of failing democratic governed states. Positive messages, carry the day when the chips accumulate. Virginia’ gov is making the kind of difficult but fiscally prudent budget balancing decisions with transparency that the potus should have been making and as the McDonnell term progressively puts Virginia back into fiscal order the media will sell advertising by broadcasting this story.. positive economic news makes obama look good in spite of his actions so his media connections will spin it in his favor but negative spin McBollinElli is what O is looking for. The story here is actually the media, not Bob or Barack..
Barack, knock it off.
Now BK, did Obama really “attack” McDonnell, or did he merely answer some questions that reporters asked him? If he brought McDonnell up that would be puzzling. If he just responsed to questions about Bob’s puzzling lack of knowlege about Civil War history, that’s not so surprising at all, is it? I’m not sure even you can build a mountain out of this particular molehill. But nice attempt at the Rovian “attack your opponent on your own weak point” strategy .
Beer Summit II
James, are you serious with the…”difficult but fiscally prudent budget balancing decisions with transparency”… comment? Don’t you remember that only committee chairman of his party knew what he would propose until the last second so no public comment could be made? It was a masterful political stroke reminiscent of the best of the back room politicians, but transparent it was not.
Bob McDonnell has the potential to be a very serious contender in 2012.
Republicans tend to nominate people who have run before, though not always, so there is really no downside politically if McDonnell were to throw his hat into the ring.
With his record in the General Assembly, and if his record so far as governor is marketed correctly, he could be a conservative standard bearer. He could do very strongly among conservatives in Iowa and South Carolina, while his Irish Catholic heritage could help him in some of the New England states where Republican Catholics vote, such as New York and New Hampshire. Also his service as an army officer will help in South Carolina as well as help to solidify his resume for the office of President.
Just sayin.
Mike, are we watching the same McDonnell??
Bob’s having an outstanding term in office, so much so that it looks like a Presidential run is likely at some point.
Certainly not ready for prime time.
Steve: Stop drinking… It isn’t going to happen.
William, Steve brings up Irish Catholics, and you respond with “stop drinking”
What an offensive remark!
@ Aaron – agree completely, I have been saying he is running in 2016 or 2020 (depending on the outcome of the 2012 election) for over a year now.
For all of the lefties up here bashing Bob – YAWN, he is a threat and you all know it, after all the head of the DNC could not even hold his own state where he WAS THE SITTING GOVERNOR with Bob on the ticket.
Hmmm, wonder if that’s why he’s stumblin’, bumblin’ and bumping his shins into the furniture in the governor’s mansion.
McDonnell has become an embarrassment to the state.
Yes Govgirl, he is a threat; I am quite pleased we finally agree on something. He is a threat to make Virginia the laughing stock of the nation as he makes more and more freshman mistakes. He is now the Governor of all of us, responsible for governance, yet his first budget causes the lay off of 35,000 workers, his AG refuses to stop pursuing his own political agenda thereby putting our economic development objectives in jeopardy, and his press operation can’t get a press release right thereby causing the Governor to have to apologize to the nation and Virginia. But thank goodness we can carry guns into every bar in Virginia. I think I’ll stay home at night.
It wasn’t McDonnell’s budget that forced the layoffs – it was the gross mismanagement of 8 years of Dem. Governors and financial people who can’t do basic math but think they are qualified to be LG. What part of Cuccinelli’s actions are you referencing, because the only part that fits might be that letter to VA Colleges, and even that wasn’t that big of a deal (not like you all made it). On everything else he has the Governor’s (and state legislatures – we passed a LAW on this) full support. He is not free-lancing at all. So, the only people McDonnell threatens are Dems who look at political extinction if his ideas and attitude are adopted nationwide. Oh, and on the issue of making VA an embarrassment, I would venture to say the GREATEST Virginians of all time are cheering the men who are determined to reawaken and re-educate the nation to the principles of LIBERTY they risked everything for. Go reaed some Washington, Madison and Jefferson, you won’t find a lot of difference.
Brian, I’m not inclined to defend Obama, but I think the Pilot and the AP did some selective editing on this one. The conversation was apparently in an ABC interview. Here’s the full text of what Obama said.
“Now, I don’t think you can understand the Confederacy and the Civil War unless you understand slavery. And so, I think that was a — an unacceptable omission. I think the governor’s now acknowledged that.”
I think 1) he was asked, and 2) he was acknowledging McDonnell’s own admitted mistake.
All that being said, I do think you’re on to something. I think his comments this week do show a fear of people like McDonnell, like Sarah Palin and others.
Well Govgirl, perhaps you will acknowledge that the House of Delegates was in the hands of your party that entire time, and of course, therefore, they essentially had veto over the budget. Plus of course, I think Virginia was selected as the best managed state in the Union during most of the years that Warner and Kaine served as Governor. Governor McDonnell did not need to tell Legislators he would veto a tax increase, but he chose to do that. The result of that statement makes him totally responsible for the loss of 35,000 jobs, and gives new meaning to his claim to be the jobs governor. His misstatement this week, and the need to correct it after a day of national outrage, speaks for itself. And his soft rebuke of Cuccinelli makes one wonder who is in charge, and while he may think he still has a chance with Northrup Grumman, I think that train already left the station with these recent missteps on civil liberties. Can he recover? Yes, of course, but he ought to govern from the center just like he ran.
Mike, you think that Northrop Grumman would decide against moving their HQ to Virginia becuase McDonnell refused to raise taxes and made a gaffe about the slavery issue, for which he quickly apologized?
No. Not for those reasons, but because of McDonnell’s refusal to condemn his AG for his actions on the issue of discrimination in employment. Corporate America is interested in the most qualified work force possible, and in Virginia, that is not protected by law.
Mike, you think that Bob McDonnell isn’t ready for prime time. My guess is, you still think governors are supposed to be as ineffective at their job (and after this past November, I guess it would be more fair to say jobs), much like Tim Kaine.
After hearing for a couple years about how Virginia has “gone blue”, I’d say someone who managed to completely demolish his competition and waste no time in making the governor’s mansion in Richmond his is more than ready to lead. I don’t know if he’ll be running in 2012 (and he’ll certainly have a few other Republicans to beat out in the primary if he does), but the US could do a lot worse. Heck, it is doing a lot worse right now.
If I remember it correctly(I really don’t keep track), in the Virginia “special elections” since November the Dems have won.
And I hope every night that Sara and Bob McD get to be the national GOP candidates in 2012. That will be a fun time! Carabo Barbie and Confederate Bob… Yepper, I can see it happening! You betcha’!!!! LOL
No CR UVA, I want Virginia’s Chief Executive to be very effective, yet I understand that a Governor is restrained by the Legislature as well. In the case of Warner and Kaine, they were constrained by the anti tax majority in House, and therefore while I believe they governed effectively, they could not accomplish all they would have preferred. In McDonnell’s case, he got elected as a moderate, but he is anti tax and conservative to the core, even if it means depleting Virginia’s infrastructure. I look for leadership on important strategic issues, and to me, so far, McDonnell is simply paying back his base for their support and ignoring crucial strategic issues that require the leadership of an effective governor.
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