Is She Scared of West Virginia?
Is Hillary Clinton worried West Virginia coal miners may be able to convince other Americans that if she’s elected president, they’re next?
In view of the attention the Mountain State and our miners were given at both the Republican and Democrat national conventions, it’s a logical question.
Republicans in Cleveland made it clear they’re on our side. When’s the last time you remember officials at either party’s convention printing signs about support for coal? Sen. Shelley Capito’s speech, played up by the GOP, was very well received by convention delegates from throughout the country.
That may have made Democrats in Philadelphia nervous. Former President Bill Clinton, in his speech about Hillary, devoted a considerable amount of time talking about West Virginia coal miners.
We weren’t at center stage during either convention. But for a change, West Virginia was on the stage.
Why? If you’re a strategist for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, paying much attention to West Virginia and coal doesn’t appear to make much sense. Beyond any shadow of doubt, Mountain State voters will be huge, in Trump’s terminology, for him in November. Clinton couldn’t get elected dog catcher in the most Democrat county in the state.
So if you’re with the GOP, why not devote more resources to bigger states where the issue is in doubt? Ditto for Democrats.
Here’s what may be going on: West Virginians, our coal miners in particular, are poster children in a very negative way for Clinton. Like so many liberal politicians, her bread and butter is claiming she stands up for the little guy.
We’re proof that isn’t so. When the little guy gets in the way of an ultra-liberal campaign, he can expect to be crushed under the big government boot. Or, as V.I. Lenin allegedly put it once upon being asked about the terrible human suffering communism had inflicted upon Russians, “If you want to make an omelette, you have to be willing to break a few eggs.”
Clinton even boasted about it earlier this year, pledging that if elected, she was going to put a lot of coal miners out of work.
Her husband doubled down on that in his speech at the convention Tuesday night. While secretary of state, Clinton “put climate change at the center of our foreign policy,” he emphasized, to cheers from the delegates. Yes, she and President Barack Obama did just that. Apparently that was their omelette.
As many West Virginians understand, Obama is breaking far more eggs than are needed. Clinton wants to break even more.
It isn’t necessary to destroy the coal industry, states like ours that rely on it, and shut down every coal-fired power plant in the nation to do something about climate change. The Obama-Clinton plan is to do just that, forcing Americans to get our electricity from much higher-priced sources such as solar and wind generators.
In addition to what that will do to miners and coal states, the strategy will drive electricity prices up substantially for tens of millions of Americans.
Maybe that’s what the Democrats fear — that sooner or later, West Virginia coal miners will get it through our neighbors’ heads that what Clinton plans is not just a war on coal, but also one on affordable electricity and the many jobs that depend on it.
Not to worry, the Clintonites assure us. As Bill put it Tuesday night, Hillary won’t turn her back on West Virginia. “She’ll be coming back for you to take you along on the ride to America’s future,” he pledged to us.
Really? Clinton likes to portray herself as a carbon copy (no pun intended) of Obama in many ways. She’ll be his third term, some say.
But Obama began his war on coal and affordable electricity seven and a half years ago. Many miners have been laid off for years, as a result. Seen any evidence the White House wants to help West Virginia?
Why should anyone expect Clinton will keep that promise?
We’re already being taken for a ride. What scares Clinton is that many voters in other states will catch on to that and understand that yes, they’re next.
Myer can be reached at: mmyer@theintelligencer.net.
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