The business of jobs

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: August 21, 2008

Barack Obama played to the crowds during his campaign swing through Martinsville and Danville on Wednesday.

It’s about time a presidential candidate did that around here.

Obama talked about jobs and the economy, a topic of constant interest in Martinsville and Danville. Even during good times, the local unemployment rate — along with every other economic and social indicator — has trailed both the Virginia and national averages.

“People are worried about the future. Obviously here in Martinsville and Henry County people have gone through some very tough times,” Obama said Wednesday. “… We’re not going to bring back every job overnight, but create a climate of long-term economic growth.”

Southside Virginia was struggling for a long time before it lost thousands of jobs in textiles, tobacco, apparel and furniture making. Local residents are clearly frustrated with Washington’s trade agreements and tax breaks that make it easy to send good hometown jobs overseas.

“I think it’s important that all candidates have the opportunity to learn about issues in this area,” said Laurie Moran, president of the Danville Pittsylvania Chamber of Commerce.

Obama, who is running in a tight race against Republican John McCain, wants to end tax breaks for companies that ship American jobs overseas. He supports job training. He even thinks that jobs building parts for renewable energy projects — such as windmills and solar panels — can be done in communities such as this one.

It was more than a coincidence that Obama visited the Dan River Region with former governor and Senate candidate Mark Warner. When Warner was in office, he strongly supported rural economic development projects and created a plan to quickly rally the state’s resources to help people who had lost their jobs in major factory shutdowns.

Warner’s efforts alone haven’t remade the Dan River Region — tough problems festering over decades aren’t solved overnight — but he put rural Virginia on the right track.

It’s hard to guess how Obama’s visit to the Dan River Region will play with local voters.

Obama’s best hope would be to cut his losses in rural Virginia and win big in Northern Virginia, the fast-growing, prosperous corner of our state that is most likely to support him in the November election.

But we’re living in the corner of Virginia that needs to be paying close attention to what Obama and McCain plan to do about jobs and the economy. We’ve already lost too much to worry about anything else.