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They came, they saw, they reported and left
After being at the center of the political universe for about a year, the Mahoning Valley is but a distant, but hopefully not forgotten, memory for those who were here.
To many international media outlets, the Valley was ground zero for the presidential campaign.
Reporters from countries in Europe and Asia flocked to the area to find out what makes it tick. I’m not sure anyone came away with an answer. I’ve been here for more than 13 years and I’m still trying to figure that out.
A reporter from The Wall Street Journal spent about two months in the Valley writing articles and blogging about the area and its importance to the presidential election.
It turned out that Ohio, considered the key battleground state in this election, didn’t decide who would be the next president.
Also, support for President-elect Barack Obama wasn’t as strong in the Mahoning Valley in Tuesday’s election as it was for John Kerry, the 2004 failed Democratic presidential candidate.
Some Democrats had bragged that Mahoning and Trumbull counties would deliver 70 percent of its vote for Obama, the party’s nominee.
Instead, Obama received 61.7 percent of the vote in Mahoning, and didn’t even break 60 percent in Trumbull with the unofficial results from that county showing him with 59.6 percent of the vote.
If anyone had said before the election that Obama would beat Republican John McCain by 4 percent in Ohio and not get 60 percent of the vote in Trumbull, I would have laughed. That may not be such a big deal because it doesn’t take much to make me laugh. But I digress [yet again].
While we were very important just a few days ago, we’re not so special anymore.
Obama, McCain, Joe Biden, Sarah Palin, Rudy Giuliani, the Clintons, the Beastie Boys, Ben Stiller, Sheryl Crow and others aren’t going to come visit us in the upcoming months. Don’t be surprised if we don’t see them until the next big election.
The celebrities and politicians aren’t the only ones who are gone.
Gone are the motorcades.
Gone are the Secret Service agents.
Gone are the bomb-sniffing dogs.
Gone is “Good Morning America” broadcasting from a farm in Gustavus and the Beeghly Center at Youngstown State University.
Gone are comments made by national pundits about the importance of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley.
Gone are “unscheduled” stops by the candidates that were not only scheduled, but staged for the national media.
Gone are rallies that last 20 to 45 minutes that you have to be at two to three hours early.
Political commercials
Gone are the dozens of political commercials that polluted the airwaves for the past year.
All that’s left is the uncertainty of what lies ahead for this country and the incoming administration.
Well, maybe that’s not all that’s left.
Many of those who supported McCain are also left with feelings of concern, fear and hopefully an open mind. We’re about to enter a period in which Democrats will have almost complete control of the federal government.
When there are problems, they can blame President Bush for leaving the country a mess. But that excuse is going to last only so long.
Several of this country’s citizens are in dire need of help and will look to the federal government to not necessarily bail them out, but to do what they can to give them a fair shake.
Many of those who voted for Obama are also left with a feeling of hope and optimism. After all, that’s what Obama and his campaign preached since he announced his candidacy.
Obama’s victory is an historical moment for our nation.
Voters decided his message of change is what this country needs.
We’ll see in the next four years how that change impacts our lives.