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| Invitation-only session on trade to include Warner |
Sen. Barack Obama |
Sunday, August 17, 2008
By BY MICKEY POWELL AND GINNY WRAY - Bulletin Staff Writers
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama will visit Henry County and Martinsville on Wednesday.
Obama will meet with local workers and families “who have been impacted by the failed trade policies of the Bush administration,” a release from his campaign Saturday stated.
“Look at communities across Virginia and it is hard to see another one that has been as dramatically impacted” by economic problems, said Kevin Griffis, a spokesperson for Obama’s campaign in the state.
Obama will hold a town hall-type meeting with displaced workers and their families. The meeting’s location will not be released publicly because attendance will be by invitation only, Griffis said.
He said community leaders and local Obama campaign officials will identify people who will be invited to the meeting.
Joining Obama will be former Virginia governor Mark Warner, who stood in the rain with displaced workers when Pillowtex closed in Fieldale in 2003. The release stated that Warner, who is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. John Warner, R-Va., “built a record of fighting to bring jobs and opportunity to the people and communities of Southside Virginia.”
Obama came to Virginia immediately after clinching enough delegates to win the presidential nomination, and his wife, Michelle, was in Norfolk recently.
However, this will be Obama’s first visit to Southside, Griffis said, adding that the Illinois senator wants to “hear from those who have been directly affected” by job losses and other economic problems, as well as discuss how he will help them and others like them if he is elected president.
“We’re the poster child on what bad things can happen,” said Del. Ward Armstrong, D-Collinsville. “That’s on his mind.”
The release says that Obama “will work for trade agreements that not only benefit the American consumer but protect the American worker, too.”
Obama will strive to end tax breaks for companies that take jobs overseas and reward companies that create jobs in the U.S., the release says.
He also will fight for trade deals with strong, enforceable environmental and labor standards that will “level the playing field and prevent other countries from taking advantage of their workers at the expense of ours,” it adds.
Obama “cares very much about displaced workers,” said Armstrong.
He said Obama’s visit shows “Virginia is in play” and could go either Democrat or Republican in the November election.
Anybody who thought that Obama, in previously visiting the state, “was just doing that as a courtesy because he knows and likes (Gov.) Tim Kaine” must realize “that is not the case,” Armstrong said.
“Virginia is turning blue (becoming Democratic),” he added.
Southside means votes for Obama, and it is a region that should be receptive to his message of change, Armstrong said.
He credited Kaine with getting Obama here.
“He obviously has Obama’s ear and I give him credit for getting this lined up,” Armstrong said. “He’s very close to the senator and has been very insistent that he come to this region.”
Kaine joined Obama’s campaign early on and has been mentioned as a possible choice for vice president.
Armstrong said he understands Kaine still is on that list, but he does not know more than that. He speculated that Obama wants someone who is not a Washington insider, and someone who reflects Obama’s theme of change.
“That’s strictly speculation. I have no inside information. I guess in the next seven days we’ll know,” Armstrong added.
Obama’s visit probably is the first time a presidential candidate has visited Henry County and Martinsville since the 1950s when Dwight D. Eisenhower traveled through by train, Armstrong said. He was not sure if Eisenhower’s train actually stopped in the county or city.
Armstrong said he was supposed to be in Richmond on Wednesday but has changed his itinerary to accommodate Obama’s visit.
“Obviously, it’s a big deal ... to have possibly the next president of the U.S. coming to the area,” he said. “I’m not going to miss this.” |
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