Home Again

Well, I just got in from a very long trip across Virginia and into middle Tennessee. My husband and I drove our Webb bumper sticker across 66, 81 and whatever other roads (a navigator I'm not) but we did give the name exposure as well as put mileage on the car.

The trip was to attend my nephew's graduation in Huntsville, Alabama, not too far from my husband's hometown in Tennessee. After the graduation, we spent a few days with my mother-in-law back in Tennessee and did a lot of driving and a bit of shopping and sight seeing. So, we got to see a bit of the South.

As I mentioned in the comment section of my previous post, in answer to some of the commentators there, I saw Harold Ford's commercial several times on Tennessee television and thought it was very effective. I'm tired so I apologize for being disjointed, but I'll try to convey the gist of the ad.

Ford gets out of a car and goes to the gas pump of an Exxon gas station. He asks viewers if they are as fed up with the high price of gas as he is. He also points out the record profits that oil companies have posted this year and mentions the $400 million bonus that the CEO of Exxon received. Then he looks into the camera and asks, "had enough."

I am not sure of the exact wording, but he basically says that he has too. He then states that it's time for a new generation of leadership in Washington and ends, "I'm Harold Ford and that's why I approved this ad."

I like that he is using the "had enough" theme, which I think is going to work for Democrats. Here, I've got to add, I think that's why Webb is a much stronger candidate than Miller. Can Miller credibly say "had enough, vote for me?" I don't think so.

Webb is a natural populist. He has enough government experience, as former Secretary of the Navy, to make him credible on national defense and foreign relations, but he's been an outsider now for long enough that he's not part of the problem. Miller, as Washington lobbyist, has been an insider this whole time. And he still defends outsourcing as a legitimate business practice. And in a sense it is. It's not illegal. But I think it's one of the things that a lot of voters have had enough of. Outsourcing, shrinking job opportunities, shrinking pensions, shrinking health benefits, shrinking salaries. Yeah, we've had enough.