Robert McDonnell was sworn in as Governor of Virginia yesterday, one of the oldest and most historical offices in this country. The ceremony is well-covered in this story--but two things strike me as worthy of note.
1. As the link indicates, Virginia tradition has it that as soon as the new Governor takes the oath of office, the previous Governor and his spouse quietly and unobtrusively depart the stage. This strikes me as quite civilized, the sort of thing you just don't see much of elsewhere.
2. I didn't follow the VA Governor's Race all that closely--Sally did a great job of it for one thing, and I live in Maryland now. But McDonnnell's sunny, upbeat, positive message--conveyed by an attractive and articulate candidate--is a winning formula. Where've we seen it before? How bout Ronny Reagan? Where else might we be seeing it? How bout Scott Brown in Massachusetts. The Party needs to keep finding candidates like these--who know how to talk and who know how to lead. They are tough, efficient, and competent--but they come off as avuncular and inclusive.
That speech of McDonnell's was outstanding. He's worth keeping an eye on-if his term is successful, he'll be in great shape to knock off Warner in 2014.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Derbyshire - conservatives can all use a good dose of pessimism
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Are-Doomed-Reclaiming-Conservative-Pessimism/dp/0307409589/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263742336&sr=1-1
Yeah but they're all white guys. We need more conservative minorities and women. They can do their best to destroy a Sarah Palin but they can't pull it off with a thousand Sarah Palins.
ReplyDeleteAnd again, we need clean, articulate, non-negro dialect talking (unless they want to) African-Americans.
What?
Sally--I don't see McDonnell beating Warner, sorry.
ReplyDeleteWarner's too upbeat and centrist. Well-loved.
Webb? Different story.
McDonnell will be the Republican VEEP nom in 2012. You saw it here first....