Millions saw the apple fall but Newton was the one who asked why. –Bernard Baruch
On November 6, CNN posted an interview where reporter Pamela Brown sat down with four Virginian suburban moms. It does not say what part of the Old Dominion they are from, but identifies them as “one Democrat, two independents, and one unaffiliated.” Three of them said they voted for Biden last year, but all four voted for Glenn Youngkin for governor this time. The screen ran a chyron: VIRGINIA SUBURBAN MOMS TO DEMS: DON’T IGNORE US.
Viewing the short interview, Brown seemed fair in her questioning, but it was obvious she was trying to wrap her mind around what possessed these women to bolt from the Party of Biden and suddenly vote GOP.
At timestamp 2:55 one mother chimed in: “We felt listened to for the first time.”
At 3:21 Brown intoned about the mothers: “They say they were also offput by former President Obama when he came to Virginia to campaign for McAuliffe and he called education “phony trumped-up culture wars.”
Digging deeper about why the former president’s visit was off-putting, Brown asked the moms, “Offensive in what way?”
One mother’s retorted: “I just feel like they’re really tone-deaf, and they’re really dismissive (…) kind of blanket statements (….)”
Watching this interview, I thought “Hey, this sounds really familiar!” It was familiar because I had largely written the same message and posted it the day before, on November 5.
Here is a snippet from that column:
“I am no pundit, but when I heard that Presidents Obama, Biden, and Vice President Harris were coming to Virginia, I suspected two things.
- The Democrats are desperate. They are risking some of their highest-priority figures to campaign for a cause that might lose, and
- It will backfire. By late October, and with early voting going since September 17, I figured most Virginians who would obey Presidents Obama and Biden had already voted for McAuliffe, or would do so. Of course the Democrat Party has their party loyalists just as the GOP does. However, I reasoned that there were still probably many Virginians who had not voted for Youngkin yet, and were reluctant to do so. Some may have been die-hard MAGA types who feared Youngkin was a Mitt Romney in a fleece jacket, if not a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Many may have feared Youngkin was a RINO: Republican In Name Only. Or, they were the “leave me alone” “Don’t Tread on Me” or just apolitical types who were planning to sit out the election. However, considering the deep dislike many in Virginia have for Presidents Obama and Biden, I figured their visits would only fuel more people to get off their couches and vote for the GOP.
In fact, there was much blowback from both visits. President Obama spoke of how McAuliffe was “right” for Virginia, which made me wonder how a former president with multi-million dollar mansions in DC and on Martha’s Vineyard knew how we Virginians lived or what we valued or needed. He also dismissed very real, daily concerns that many Virginians have as “fake outrage.”
Addressing the fury that many Virginians had about the news of a girl being raped in a girls’ bathroom in a Loudoun County school by a boy wearing a skirt, The satire site Babylon Bee posted a photo of a sanctimonious-looking President raising a finger like a lecturer with this outrageous headline: “Obama Tells Girl Raped In School Restroom To Stop Peddling Fake Outrage.”
These Virginia mothers–and I hope my humble column–are trying to verbalize the frustration so many “normal people” have with tone-deaf politicians who seem more intent on cementing their own power and control rather than solving real-world problems for regular, working, non-politician folks. The day after our historic elections in Virginia, I heard US Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) invited to share his thoughts on a talk show. I am paraphrasing but he said in essence, “For 364 days a year politicians get to tell us what we can do, what we can’t do, etc., and the citizens have to listen and obey, but on only one day of the year, the people get to speak and tell the politicians something, and we call that day ‘Election Day.’”
Those four Virginia suburban moms were speaking for who knows how many of the 1.6 million who voted for the Youngkin/Sears/Miyares ticket. Many of us are beyond tired of the tone-deaf, dismissive politicians who do not take our very real concerns seriously.
In closing, as far as news coverage is concerned, I write this tongue-in-cheek but also as grandma used to say, “If the shoe fits, wear it.”
“Read it on TheRoanokeStar.com today; see it on CNN tomorrow.”
–Scott Dreyer
Sources:
CNN Interview with Four Virginia Suburban Moms
Virginia Shouts “STOP THE INSANITY” (Part 3)
Babylon Bee satire: “Obama Tells Girl Raped in School Restroom To Stop Peddling Fake Outrage.”
