Mark Warner at the Norfolk Forum

Former Governor Mark Warner was the final speaker of the season for the Norfolk Forum this past Tuesday night. The Virginian-Pilot covered his speech in this article. On display was Warner’s sense of humor: besides the “cha-ching” mentioned in the Pilot article, he spoke about missing being called “His Excellency” and the fact that as governor, he never had to drive. His references to YouTube and Google, though, fell a little flat with this mostly older audience.

A former – and future – candidate for president, Warner spent the first twenty minutes or so talking about foreign policy. He has obviously spent a lot of time boning up on this, in addition to visiting five countries since he left office. Warner is a centrist, and believes that the issue is the future versus the past, not left versus right, a position that is sure to create some problems for him with the Democratic base. He said that Democratic candidates should not allow Iraq to be the only foreign policy issue and laid out the four points of what he believes our foreign policy should be:

• Maintain the world’s strongest military
• Seek out and build strong alliances
• Maintain a strong economy
• A policy that reflects and respects American values

He then spent about ten minutes on domestic issues. Mentioning that he was the first in his family to go to college, Warner said that everybody should get a fair shot. He spoke about health care and how the emphasis should be on prevention. Our infrastructure – roads, rail and sewer systems have experienced a 50% decline in investment since the 1970s.

His final segment of about 10 minutes was on energy. He believes that alternative energy could be the economic engine of the US that technology and telecommunications was in the 1990s. Research into using switch grass instead of corn to create ethanol could be a boom for Virginia.

Winding down, Warner said that we’ve gotten too much into “gotcha” politics and that the president and both parties have not “trusted enough in the character of us.”

He then took a few questions. The very first one was about illegal immigration. Again, it was obvious that he has studied the issue in depth as he laid out multiple points on the problem. (I can tell that the guy loves lists!) Another question was about his choice for president in 2008. Gotta love his answer: “my favorite dropped out last October,” meaning, of course, himself.

Since the speech was given on the tax filing deadline, I managed to ask a question about whether he supported any of the plans to eliminate the income tax, such as a national sales tax. He didn’t quite answer my question but did say that he believes all electeds should be able to read a balance sheet* and know that they must balance inflows and outflows.

Afterwards, I got a chance to speak to Warner and asked him what he was running for next. He said either Senate or Governor, and was unwilling to commit to either one. He did say that he was tired of being at home.

The fact that Warner spent a lot of time on foreign policy in his speech doesn’t sway me one way or the other. I really think that the speech he gave was a variation of his standard stump speech he used when he was running for president. For that, it was very important that he appear knowledgeable about foreign policy to be taken seriously as a candidate. If I were to just look at his speech, I’d say that he’s still running for president. But we all know that ain’t happening right now.

Warner has been bitten by the political bug and I don’t see him shaking it. As a matter of fact, I’d say that he’s got it so bad that I don’t see how he can sit on the sidelines much longer. Yes, he’ll help other candidates get elected but I sense that his ego needs the crowds to be clapping and yelling for him, not for someone else. (That’s not a negative, by the way.) And I think that’s the reason he’s entertaining a run for Senate. Not because it’s a good fit, but because it’s what’s available.

*A balance sheet reflects assets, liabilities and net worth, not inflows (revenues) and outflows (expenses).

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