Virg Bernero: Lansing Mayor, MI Gov Hopeful

[javero]

Posted: 2/9/10 at 12:20pm

He's been on the radar for a minute now.

Quite the motivating figure but comes off as a used car salesman. He's got the "change meme" going on. Any Michiganders or others care to weigh in?

[Yawper]

Posted: 2/9/10 at 4:17pm

Why do you care at all if you don't live here?

[javero]

Posted: 2/9/10 at 4:57pm

@Yawper: I see him as Obama's successor, with a few adjustments, and like you I'm disturbed by the disdain shown by many Americans towards domestic manufacturinng in general. Now, onto my question.

Why the provincial attitude?

[Yawper]

Posted: 2/9/10 at 5:03pm

Provincial attitude? Hardly. Standard reaction to coastla snobbery - "used car salesman" "on the radar for a minute"

You'd already know of him if you cared about manufacturing or Michigan. You'd at least know him from the time of the Congressional vote on assitance to the automakers since he appeared on the talking heads' shows then.


This is pretty much how we "the provincials" in Michigan feel Updated On: 2/9/10 at 05:03 PM

[Yawper]

Posted: 2/9/10 at 6:24pm

sorry if that's harsh but we get a lot of that and it's gotten really, really, really old

our work, our industry, our region matters and we're tired of getting kicked by people who have no clue (seriously, Congress voted to let our main industry DIE and now they have the nerve to strut around as if they were its saviors - the Executive branch made the difference, not Congress)

[javero]

Posted: 2/9/10 at 9:24pm

Seriously, I first took notice of him about two years back when he was beamed into Bill OReilly's show on Fox News. He's somewhat impressive but tends to talk over interviewers and fires off slogans right and left. He has a certain fire in the belly which I find Obama desperately lacking.

But, now I'd like to focus on Bernero's record as Mayor of Lansing. I'm anxious to see if the rhetoric translates to the restoration and creation of jobs in the great state of MI. If he's elected and successful in making any dent in MI's unemployment rate, I'll be the first person contributing to his national party nomination campaign. I prefer a Gov-turned-Potus any day. To me, the biggest knock on Obama & Hillary during the Dem primary was that neither spent a day in a governor's mansion as chief exec.

Personal note, my own mom retired from a muffler manufacturer in rural eastern NC after 30 yrs of service as a piece-rate worker. She was all but forced out due to her age & "rightsizing". I come from a very proud blue collar family which defines work as a process which creates a tangible and practical end-product, not mud pies or talking points.

Thanks for sharing your insights into the jobs outlook & prevailing sentiment throughout your region for a while now. It's indeed a shame that manufacturing across the board is taken for granted in this country now. Sadly, that sector isn't as sexy to the MSM as digital jobs & the pie-in-the-sky coined the green economy. For some reason, the MSM has gingerly side-stepped the report about the size of Google's carbon footprint. I've spent 20 yrs earning a living in IT & engineering and know firsthand how resource intensive are the data centers which give life to the always-on Internet & mobile phone networks in the US.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/9/10 at 9:34pm

I see him as Obama's successor

Bernero is not Obama's successor.

Mayor Cory Booker of Newark is Obama's successor.

[Q]

Posted: 2/9/10 at 9:41pm

Yawper - check your medication - or at least pay attention to who you're addressing. Javero doesn't fall into the category you're describing, and in no way deserves your vitriol - however justified it might be.

[madbrian]

Posted: 2/9/10 at 10:09pm

Cory Booker is the real deal. He recently showed up to shovel an elderly Newark resident's steps.
Cory

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/9/10 at 10:11pm

He can shovel the snow from my driveway any time he wants.

[javero]

Posted: 2/9/10 at 10:41pm

@madbrian & @paljoey: I'm convinced that in the Net 2.0 era, politics at the national level is purely superficial. CB is too Obama-like on the bio and too A-Rod-like in appearance. He'd be more fodder for the Tea Bagger kooks. The combined city-slicker Oxford-Ivy pedigree would work against him, especially if Sister Sarah is on the hunt in 2016.

Post-Obama, the Dems have to find a strong national candidate who appeals to blue collar voters and can chip away at Sister Salin's base. The country is prone to suffer from Obama fatigue by then, if he gets over the hurdle 2 yrs out.

I encourage you to peep a couple of Virg Bernero's clips from the Tube. Not meaning to slip into stereotypes, but that Italian-American in-your-face bravado is a welcomed contrast to Obama's arguably detached cool. And if dude can steer MI clear of it's dire straits, he'll take the entire Rust Belt with him all the way to the White House.

As long as he has no skeletons in his closet or isn't on the hunt for "strange", Virg is the perfect antidote to Uncle Rush & Sister Sarah. One con: he's quite short in stature, keeping things purely superficial.

Updated On: 2/9/10 at 10:41 PM

[Yawper]

Posted: 2/9/10 at 10:42pm

The fundamental problem in Michigan is that its unemployment has largely been driven by fallout from Federal policies rather than State policies. That's why Michigan has had such a hard time over the last decade. A decent health care bill alone would do a lot to revitalize Michigan's situation since it's the primary reason we've lost so much employment to Canada.

Bernaro would be fine at the state level or as a Federal Congressman. He's managed to balance budgets responsibly and without inducing too much rancor. His biggest problem will be if Denise Ilitch gets in the race since she has a name AND money to work with.

The new entry on the GOP side, Rick Snyder, should be very strong. He's quite moderate and Michigan typically goes for moderates above all else, that's why it's such a swing state.

Michigan Liberal is probably the best blog for following lib politics in Michigan.
Michigan Liberal

[strummergirl]

Posted: 2/9/10 at 10:51pm

What exactly does it mean to be 'too A-Rod like in appearance'? Does he have his likeness on a centaur?

Booker's bio is more like if Bruce Wayne got into public office. The guy takes his job seriously.

[Yawper]

Posted: 2/9/10 at 11:15pm

Cory Booker means nothing west of the Appalachians, if even west of Newark.

[javero]

Posted: 2/9/10 at 11:15pm

@strummergirl: My analysis, if it could be called that, was purely superficial. A-Rod was often considered someone who can't deliver post-season & overpaid until helping his team bag the World Series last time out. To me, CB bears an uncanny resemblance to A-Rod which the Tea Baggers would rush to exploit for their gain.

In other words, Booker would probably win the swimsuit portion of the competition but I give the edge to Bernero in the talent portion with evening gown a wash.

Seriously, I'm thinking of my own projected electoral map in 2016. Honestly, I give the edge to Bernero over Booker when it comes to carrying the Rust Belt in a hypothetical match up. The GOP would paint Booker as yet another city-slicker ala Obama. It's no mystery why Edward Luce's piece on the 'Chicago Four' is generating so much buzz. National elections are not won on the issues alone.

Updated On: 2/9/10 at 11:15 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/9/10 at 11:22pm

Cory's bio is nothing like Obama's.

Booker was raised by stable parents, both black middle-class who went from the civil-rights movement to being the first black IBM executives. Booker has no mixed race/father-abandonment issues like Obama, no dabbling in drugs, leftist theory, black-liberation politics or theology like Obama. Booker was an all-American football player in high school and went on to be a football star at Stanford. After two masters degrees there, he went to Yale Law.

So he doesn't have much in common with Obama, except that Obama's half black and they both went to (different) Ivy-league law schools. And they're both tall.

[javero]

Posted: 2/9/10 at 11:38pm

@PJ: I hear u but the GOP will paint him as Obama 2.0 and in 2016 that will not be a good thing. Heck, the Tea Baggers are throwing their creator Ron Paul under the bus right now and Rush, Sarah, and Michael Steele are not rushing to denounce Tom Tancredo's bigoted foolishness or to Ron Paul's defense. In today's political climate, I'd argue that NJ as a whole is toxic to the cause of the Democrats, for a number of reasons. It's certainly not a talent incubator for the office of POTUS.

Updated On: 2/10/10 at 11:38 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/10/10 at 12:08am

You're dead wrong about everything.

[Q]

Posted: 2/10/10 at 2:54am

"Cory Booker means nothing west of the Appalachians, if even west of Newark."

This from the person who just went on a rant about regionalism?!?
Updated On: 2/10/10 at 02:54 AM

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 2/10/10 at 8:20am

i'd cross party lines to vote for cory booker. for anything from dog catcher to potus and anything in between.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/10/10 at 9:28am

He does the "bipartisan" thing in Newark, but it's the real thing.

[javero]

Posted: 2/10/10 at 12:13pm

@PLM & @PJ:

Do you guys really believe that C.B. has time on his side? As dirty as he is, Chris Christie's top gun till 2014 putting him more than a nose ahead of C.B.

C.B.'s rather impressive but I don't see how he'll be ready for prime time by 2016 given Christie's ascent, especially if the human dynamo Virg is sworn in as the next governor of MI. Heck, Corzine couldn't even win a couple of the most decidedly left-leaning NJ counties.

The next POTUS will hail from either the Rust Belt or Dixie. And I still maintain that the GOP will be the first party to put a woman in the White House, but neither Sister Sarah nor Giuliani in drag.

And the Dems better hope that Haley Barbour doesn't announce an exploratory campaign next year. Trent Lott is salivating at the prospect of being his campaign manager which would allow him to position Barbour as both anti-Bush & anti-Obama. Trent has an axe to grind.

If the national GOP leadership had held back Sister Sarah, properly trained her, and paired her with Barbour in 2012, they would be a nearly unstoppable twosome. Now, she's damaged goods and the party's albatross. This time next year, she'll have tire tread marks all over her back.

[madbrian]

Posted: 2/10/10 at 1:02pm

Cory Booker is the real deal, but I don't see him on the national ticket by 2016. That said, who saw Obama or Palin coming six years before their emergence? Six years before being picked by McCain, Palin was on the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. At the same time, Obama was in the Illinois state senate.

Regarding Booker, the question is: where next?

[javero]

Posted: 2/10/10 at 1:45pm

"That said, who saw Obama or Palin coming six years before their emergence?"

@madbrian:

I think that today kings and queens are made at near the speed of a mouse click. Obama is Ted Kennedy's legacy. The D.C. Chattering Class collectively sprayed its shorts when Ted took on the role of John the Baptist at that fateful DNC Convention. And the minute Sister Sarah was sworn in as AK Gov, the conservative blogs pronounced her the party's savior.

Both Obama & Palin were beneficiaries of good timing and the growing public resentment towards political dynasties at the national level like the Bush, Clinton, Kennedy, and Dole clans. The backlash became apparent to me way back in 2002 when MD's Lt Gov at the time Kathleen KENNEDY Townsend lost out to the Republican Bob Erlich in the governor's race. Of course, he served one term before being taken out by the current gov Martin O'Malley who aligned himself with Obama.

RE: Booker, the good folks of NJ should put a lil' bug in Lautenberg's ear telling him it's time to transition that Senate seat to C.B. They should also re-elect Menendez to the US Senate in 2012 & start grooming him to take on Christie in the governor's race of 2014.

Updated On: 2/10/10 at 01:45 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/10/10 at 2:10pm

Cory will be president in 2016.