Is McAuliffe the Shadow Governor?

Some mornings when you hear the news you think how impressive it is that Governor McAuliffe implemented his business plan for Virginia. Then you remember that Taliban Bob won and realize his accomplishments are something old, something borrowed, something blue, but nothing he can claim as his own for true.

Now the Richmond Times Dispatch is running a series on climate change. You may be certain that McDonnell will act. Down the list, issues or initiatives that were stolen or shunned or both by the Republicans have been claimed as discovered by the GOP. McDonnell has embraced the Virginia Coastal Energy Consortium with renewed vigor, proposed credits for film production in Virginia, directed the acquisition of electric vehicles for the state vehicle fleet, ad nauseam.

When it was time for personal attention and action, it was McAuliffe at the soon to be shuttered paper mill in Franklin offering an alternative or two. McDonnell’s reaction was that McAuliffe has lots of ideas. Apparently those are the only ideas that McDonnell can seize upon. Really, his team with Malek at the lead…never been done, no one has ever thought of paring the “fat” of government…really. Virginia is among the states with the lowest per capita tax burdens. The only development that will come out of this administration will be a fiscal shell game that will cut essential services to the quick and deliver no savings.

But here we are with McDonnell, his dutiful bridesmaid Lieutenant Governor, and Super Cooch, whose staff either doesn’t know McDonnell has moved on or can’t find the keys to the AG web pages. Why the silence? Maybe because the Democratic Party of Virginia (DPVA) is afraid of its shadow. The same leadership that was scared to run on Democratic positions last year is now too timid to call out McDonnell and his administration for the lack of initiative and innovation and to challenge bad ideas. Not to mention harping on McDonnell’s absence from the state.

No, the only specter is the DPVA.