First Things First

First, read this. Then read this: The impulse behind the article seems admirable. Two people who worked for Obama's campaign are trying to dispel the notion that Appalachians uniformly opposed Barack Obama. But, they are writing about their time spent in "southeast Ohio." Obama's campaign dogged it in West Virginia and Kentucky. I'm not hurt. Obviously, Obama and his staffers know how to run an effective campaign and win an election. They had to focus their efforts in certain states and forget about others. Virginia and Ohio were more likely to go Obama's way, so they focused on the areas of Appalachia within those states. In terms of winning the election, it was the right move. In terms of governing, we'll have to wait and see. JFK had to campaign hard in West Virginia to win the Democratic nomination in 1960.

Kennedy won West Virginia, both in the primary and the general election. There are still people who talk about Kennedy in reverential tones. Some are just random guys I've had drinks with, others are still major players in West Virginia politics today. Barack Obama is not John F. Kennedy. They are different men from different times and had different electoral battles to fight. Watch that video of JFK again, though. With an accent like that, who wouldn't have thought of JFK as some northern liberal member of the elite? Despite that, he still won West Virginia. Barack Obama is not cut from the same cloth as the majority of the people in the variously- and often ill-defined region of Appalachia. I believe that he is sincere is his desire to be the president for all of America, not just the parts that voted for him. If 2012 is a closer race than 2008, we'll see how the strategy changes. There are challenges for him, that much is evident. All I know is that, if the next election is tighter, he'll have to show up.