Is Virginia Terry McAuliffe’s Red Corvette?

There was a man who seemed to have it all-successful job, lovely wife, wonderful kids, and a dog who didn’t pee in the house.  But as he entered middle age, he discovered he was…middle-aged!  He suddenly found that he felt he had missed opportunities, some things had passed him by, and began acting out, doing some things that were mildly to massively destructive-including an affair that blew up his marriage.

When asked about it long after the smoke cleared, he said, “if I had to do it all over again, I would have just bought a red corvette.”

We’ve all heard something like that, and I will tell you on this breezy Saturday AM that I am wondering if that is what Terry McAuliffe view’s Virginia as, a red corvette that will get him back into the life he thinks he should have.

Now it is not hard to guess that I am default GOP voter.  I plan to cast my lot with Team McDonnell in the fall elections.  However, I am a Virginian first, and I like to see folks running for office that want to serve Virginia.  I have this strange idea that candidates should seek office for what they can do in that office as opposed to what that office can do for them.

Terry McAuliffe wants the democratic nomination despite never having been truly actively involved in Virginia politics.  Yes, he has lived in Virginia for several years.  But this is a guy who seems to want to run for governor wherever it is he lives (which, to the relief of the good folks of Florida, is now…not Florida). 

 

It seems odd that after years of being a Clintonista fundraiser, organizer, and apologist, he now suddenly thinks the Commonwealth cannot function unless he is present to lead us.  Is it because his path back to the highlife of Washington influence was terminated when Hillary lost to Obama that he has this hankering to live in Richmond?

I think that to Terry McAuliffe Virginia is nothing more than a rich man’s version of a Red Corvette, a paliative substitute to take the place of the path he wishes he were walking.

Now there are lots of reasons to not like Mr. McAuliffe.  This discussion at Blue Commonwealth (perhaps to be known as BluCo?) hits on some of them. Some don’t like his trying to buy the nomination, others don’t like his positions. Yep, lots of reasons…

But for me, it is a much more simple matter. Creigh Deeds and Brian Moran have built their political careers here in Virginia working for Virginians. My preference in November is Bob McDonnell. But more than that I want a governor who believes in working for Virginians to improve the paths we all walk, and not a governor who seems to think Virginia is a path he can walk over to meet his career and ego demands.