Last Friday, Richard N. Ojeda of West Virginia dropped out of the presidential race. This may not mean much to many or even most of you, but it gave me kind of a twinge, first because he’s kind of a neighbor, being from next-door West Virginia, and second, although I don’t know him, I have friends who do. He was not a candidate I likely would have voted for, but I would have liked to hear what he had to say; however, that was not likely to happen, as he did not get even as much air time on MSNBC or anywhere else as Pete Buttigieg did the day he announced, and Ojeda did not make it over here to my part of Virginia. Anyway, I’m sorry he’s gone.
I have checked out his website, and found myself in agreement with a good bit of what he said, especially about financial elitism in politics, about healthcare, and about the greed of Big Pharma (which is something I am going to scream about until either Big Pharma is clamped down on or I am dead!). He’s advocated for the legalization of cannabis, and even though he’s personally against abortion, he believes it should remain legal because blocking access to it would disproportionately hurt the poor. I liked his strong pro-union stance. I knew through friends who live in Logan County where Ojeda resides that he’d been a strong force in the West Virginia teachers’ strike. (One of my friends is a teacher and his wife used to be.) I didn’t like, his pro-coal stance, but I understand that he is from a family of miners and was raised in West Virginia. It’s going to take some time to change that viewpoint.
And yes, I know he voted for Trump (boo, gag, barf, etc.). He said he did so because he believed Trump’s rhetoric that he’d do something for West Virginia. And within a year he was sorry he’d done so and has expressed regret ever since, saying “he ain’t done shit,” and further statements to that effect, many delivered in pretty salty Marine language. He was contrite, and I think he could be forgiven. Many folks did the same—but then, they weren’t running for President.
Would I have voted for him? Most likely not. But I would have liked to hear a little more from him so I could make up my mind why or why not. It’s kind of annoying that the media anoints the “front runners”, presumably those who have the money to run, and we have to pick from those. We might get a fleeting look at, say, a Pete Buttigieg, but he’s a novelty, and that will be it. I don’t think we’ve heard the last of Richard Ojeda, however. I understand he may be considering a run against Shelley Moore Capito for her US Senate seat in 2020.
