Well, not exactly. But the following words spoken by Senator Barack Obama, who will be in Arlington tonight for a "an evening with Tim Kaine" and several hundred friends, could apply just as easily to Jerry Kilgore as they do to our greatest President, a Republican named Abraham Lincoln. Say what? Huh? Well, yeah...Obama's words, from "Remarks by Senator Barack Obama at the Opening of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum," could apply to Jerry Kilgore, if you just took them and twisted them around into the exact, 180-degrees opposite of what Obama actually said. Just change a few words around and take a wee bit of poetic license, in fact, and you've got yourself a perfect description of a doppelganger we'll call Not Jerry Kilgore:
...when it came time to confront the greatest challenges this state has ever faced, Not Jerry Kilgore did not flinch. He did not equivocate or duck or pass the challenge on to future generations. He did not demonize the men and women on the other side of the political spectrum, nor seek to diminish the terrible costs of his misguided proposals. In the midst of Virginia's dark fiscal storm and the complexities of governing a house divided, he kept his moral compass pointed firm and true.It serves us then to reflect on whether that element of Not Jerry Kilgore's character, and the American character - that aspect which makes tough choices, and speaks the truth when least convenient, and acts while still admitting doubt - remains with us today.
At a time when image all too often trumps substance, when our politics all too often feeds rather than bridges division, when the prospects of a poor youth rising out of poverty seem of no consequence to the powerful, and when we evoke our common God to condemn those who do not think as we do, rather than to seek God's mercy for our own lack of understanding - at such a time it is helpful to remember this man who was the real thing. Not Jerry Kilgore reminds us that our essential greatness is not the shadow of sophistication or popularity, or wealth or power or fleeting celebrity. It is the tree that stands in the face of our doubts and fears and bigotries, and insists we can do better.
Yep, that's Not Jerry Kilgore for you, a true profile in courage, a man of character, a politician who appeals to the better angels of our nature. If only the REAL Jerry Kilgore were not 180 degrees different from Not Jerry Kilgore, aka Abraham Lincoln, we might not have so much to worry about right now.
PS I look forward to hearing what the REAL Barack Obama has to say about the REAL Jerry Kilgore tonight in Arlington. Should be interesting.
Referring to Obama as a liberal with the goal of suggesting that his politics are left of the mainstream is a joke. Obama is a heck of a lot more mainstream than some of the right wing wackos that Kilgore will be happy to get endorsements from. This whole Republican ticket is VERY right of center. Atty. General candidate Bob McDonnell's #1 contributor is Pat "Gays, etc. caused 9/11" Robertson.
http://blueinVA.blogspot.com
Check it out.