Commentary: Aboard Obama's not-so-magic bus

This week, President Barack Obama once again fired up his Canadian-built Magical Mys­tery Bus and drove through North Carolina and Virginia as his re-election campaign begins on the taxpayer dime.

Somehow the symbolism of Obama back in the bus is supposed to inspire Congress to pass his contemptible “jobs bill” and at the same time convince the rubes he has the common touch.

Here in Northern Virginia, the impact of the tour will mostly be felt by motorists who are likely to see, and be inconvenienced by, im­promptu road barriers block­ing portions of the highway.

Strangely enough, these barriers will not have been erected by the Secret Service to bar potential terrorists.

On the contrary, the burn­ing tires and hijacked Jersey barriers are the product of panicked House and Senate Democratic candidates, des­perate to avoid being associ­ated with the Obamatross a little over two weeks before the November election.

And no wonder, currently Obama’s disapproval rating in Virginia is 52 percent, which puts him somewhere between Dan Snyder and E.coli. Yet, like the professor who doesn’t realize it’s his halitosis and not his intellect that intimidates students, Obama originally intended to have his 2011 Vanishing Jobs Tour stop in Danville, New­port News, Charlottesville and Fredericksburg.

Evidently his vaunted po­litical operation was unaware that while North Carolina and Virginia are crucial to his personal re-election; Virginia Dems are clinging to a slim 22-18 majority in the Senate they would like to retain. So far, they have done everything but rub soy blood on door lintels in the hope Obama will pass over without killing their chances in November.

Even Senate candidate Tim Kaine — who Obama person­ally selected to be chairman of the Democratic National Committee and whose elec­tion is not until next year — can’t seem to find time to work the president into his schedule, although there are rumors Kaine plans to text him while he’s in the state.

But at least Kaine is doing his shunning in silence. The same can’t be said for other Democrats who are des­perately trying to wash the scarlet “O” from their fore­heads. Sen. Phillip Puckett, according to the Washington Post, is the first Dem to pub­licly declare he won’t vote for Obama in 2012. The Demo­cratic leader of the House of Delegates, Ward Armstrong, is running a TV commer­cial that denies he has any ties to Obama, political or otherwise. And state senators William Reynolds, Edward Houck, George Baker and Toddy Puller all take the Fifth Amendment (just like the Solyndra executives!) when asked if they will be voting for Obama.

What’s striking is that one of the few elected officials who will agree to be seen in public with him is Repub­lican Gov. Bob McDonnell, who doesn’t appear to believe short-term proximity to the president will damage his vice presidential prospects as much as employment under Obama had torpedoed Jon Huntsman’s.

I can’t help but think this whole visit is particularly ill– timed for the Senate Demo­cratic Caucus. Just last week, it was announced the caucus raised a total of $2.1 million in the third quarter from oc­cupy protesters in Wall Street, Richmond and DC.

The possession of this tidy bankroll now puts the Senate Dems in the awkward posi­tion of being just another wealthy group of insiders sitting on their cash, hoping Obama’s bad policies and elitist incompetents won’t do them too much damage.

Call me suspicious, but I’m wondering if Monday’s theft of the truck containing $200,000 worth of TOTUS (teleprompter of the United States), Obama’s podium with seal, audio equipment and assorted other Presi­dential show biz items from the parking lot of a Henrico County Marriott wasn’t a futile, last-ditch attempt by local Dems to derail the visit.

If I were the FBI, I’d be ask­ing where Armstrong, Barker and Puckett were on Sunday night. 

Michael Shannon, a public relations and advertising consultant with corporate, government and political experience around the globe, can be reached at michael-shannon@comcast.net.