×
X logo

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox.

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)

You may opt-out anytime by clicking "unsubscribe" from the newsletter or from your account.

Clinton Avoids Energy Regions

Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Tim Kaine, plan to take their show on the road immediately after the Democratic National Convention ends. Their first stops will be in Ohio and Pennsylvania, it was reported Tuesday.

Do not look for them in this region, however. The nearest Clinton and Kaine plan to come to East Ohio is Youngstown.

Their itinerary makes it clear the two are pursuing the traditional Democrat strategy of appealing to voters in large cities. Stops on their swing through Ohio and Pennsylvania are to include Harrisburg, Youngstown and Cleveland.

They may have trouble explaining Clinton’s stance on trade to voters in Youngstown, which is squarely in the Rust Belt in part because of unfair trade practices by other countries that have devastated U.S. manufacturing, including the steel industry. Schemes such as dumping and currency manipulation have been permitted by the federal government for too long.

No doubt Clinton will assure listeners in Youngstown that she opposes one objectionable trade proposal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But the TPP proposal would not have advanced as far as it has without Clinton’s staunch support while she was secretary of state.

She and Kaine have good reasons to avoid East Ohio. Here, many voters have personal experience with the anti-coal, anti-natural gas policies President Barack Obama has pursued — and which Clinton thinks did not go far enough.

Clearly, many in the Democrat leadership agree with her. The party’s formal platform reads like a battle plan for an all-out assault on areas such as East Ohio and West Virginia. Much of it was lifted directly from Clinton’s personal agenda.

In essence, the platform calls for massive new subsidies for technologies such as solar and wind energy, aimed at making them the primary sources of electricity for Americans. There is no mention of the enormous cost to families that would have to pay much higher utility bills.

In addition, the platform demands new Environmental Protection Agency power over oil and gas drilling, aimed at drastically reducing the practice of hydraulic fracturing. As many in our area know, “fracking” made the gas and oil boom possible.

Clinton knows energy-producing regions such as ours are lost causes for her — because voters here understand her all too well. Between now and November, let us hope the word spreads.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

COMMENTS

Starting at $4.73/week.

Subscribe Today