Oberstar concedes, but says he wants role in public service
November 3, 2010 at 8:35 am in Duluth News Tribune
Congressman Jim Oberstar, speaking at his office in the Gerald Heaney Federal Building in Duluth, said it wasn’t “any one thing” that contributed to his loss, but added that had voter turnout been higher, “the result may have been different.” Continue Reading
Oberstar has it right. There wasn’t “any one thing” he did. It was many things he did, like not listening to his constituents in regard to many matters, voting for the health care overhaul against the people’s wishes, replying to letters which basically said he knew better than you, flip flopping on abortion, being more concerned about bike trails than the economy, and generally having an arrogant attitude toward the people he was supposed to represent. It will be a breath of fresh air to have someone who is willing to listen to the will of the people – Chip Cravaack.
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The real news here is that Oberstar has an office in Minnesota…well, for a couple more months anyway.
Jim, just admit Chip bested you and stop clinging to the notion it was extant factors, like low turnout, that did you in.
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>”Oberstar also said he still will seek a role in public service, but didn’t know yet what that would be. ”
No, see, you still dont get it. We dont WANT you in Public Service anymore, thats why we FIRED YOU last night.
If you want something to do to get out of the house, I hear Walmart is looking for some cart pushers.
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Low voter turnout? What, so you could have gotten beaten even worse? Even now, you can’t swallow the fact that your time is LOOONG gone, and your services are not needed, or wanted anymore. You’re done.
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I’m guessing by new role in public life he means “lobbyist based in Maryland”.
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There’s a waiting period before he can be a lobbyist, but you bet your butt at least one company will hire him for their board or “special advisor” for when that day comes.
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In unrelated news…Mayor Ness appointed James Oberstar to the position of City Dog Catcher today.
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***** Oberstar also said he still will seek a role in public service, but didn’t know yet what that would be. *****
Riiiiight. Probably getting his first check from the DC lobbying firm he’s going to work for next week.
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He should now try being a statesman instead of the sore loser. If voter turnout would have been higher he would only have lost by more. Public service in his future? How about not. Go enjoy your grandchildren and your bike paths, maybe you could build a few in Maryland your home for the last 20 years. Last night at 10:30 when he all but said he had won the race was the most telling moment why I am happy he lost, arrogance at its finest. You are not the man we want in charge anymore.
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So many good comments and many are right on the mark. I too noticed that it looked like Donny Ness was ready to cry in the picture.
Even though Chisholm is Oberstars “home”, my guess is that he’ll never be back there again and his home there will be on the market very soon. There’s little doubt in my mind that he’ll end up a lobbiest in the DC area. You can’t really blame him for that since government is all he knows…it’s all he’s done for the majority of his adult life. That’s part of why I didn’t vote for him. How in the world can you understand the daily life stuggles of your constituints when you haven’t been in their shoes for 36 years ? Possibly you can sympathize, but you certainly can’t empathize and there’s a big difference between those two sentiments.
Last night when he was speaking and telling us he was sure he was winning….. the way he spoke reminded me of an angry old man who knows better than the voters who put him in office in the first place….he just seemed so angry and arrogant when he was speaking last night. Maybe he is right on some things….but you’re never going to convince someone when you’re angry and foam is coming out of your mouth.
I just hope the people elected (or re-elected) last night realize that they have been given our trust to make things better for all of us. Gloating over victory isn’t the higher road and shouldn’t be on the agenda….just get to it and do the peoples work honorably and honestly.
Work with those who see things differently than you and find where you can agree on some things….compromise where you feel you can without sacrificing your core values. If your core values are challenged by others with other beliefs/values…..be respectful and talk things over and you may actually find agreement somewhere. We’ll never get anywhere if everyone is rigid and uncompromising. The longer I live the more I realize that just because someone believes or values different things than I do don’t necessarily mean they are wrong.
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Well said.
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Wow. A premature semi-victory speech. As if we needed another reason to want him to go. Totally out of touch. His arrogance and behavior the last few weeks has been un-believeable. I guess he forgot who he works for. His bitter reaction to being challenged and having to answer for what he does, cost him- people coudn’t wait to see him lose. Even in defeat he still thinks he should have won.
At the end, an angry, arrogant man who had the audacity to lecture the very people who kept him there for too long. A great way to tarnish a legacy of 36 years of service to this State. Mission accomplished.
Note to Donny: If you are thinking about running for this seat in the future, I’d stand a little further away from former Congressman Oberstar- like Bemidji.
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I’m from the eastern end of CD 8; the part that Oberstar never seemed to care about…ever.
It’s nothing short of miraculous that Oberstar’s vote totals in St. Louis County dropped from 77% in 2008 to 57% in 2010. I checked some of the precinct totals on the SOS website and this phenomenon was not just limited to Duluth (I believe he pulled in the 60s in Duluth). There were several precincts on the Range where Cravaack was running 5-15% ahead of Tom Emmer, which says to me that while they might have voted for Dayton for Governor, a large number of people split their tickets and voted for Cravaack.
I wish I could have seen the debates…my dad lives in Virginia and he said that Oberstar pissed a lot of people off on the Range with his condescending attitude and came across as very angry. And is it true he wouldn’t shake Cravaack’s hand? That’s incredible. Talk about a sense of entitlement.
Way to go 8th district!!!
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Now Oberstar can go take a relaxing cruise on a true piece of Americana, the DELTA QUEEN. Oops, forgot, he scuttled that for his friends at the Seafarers Union. Well, then he can catch a flight on one of those 737s that didn’t get their maintenance checks done during his watch…
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I think Jim deserves to take a nice long vacation. IN MALAYSIA!!!!!
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Whatever company did the Malaysia ads with a terrible job. The ad was totally ineffective, a poor message, poor quality, and must have assumed all viewers were in the DFL Kool-Aid laced with Vodka. Really, that ad looked like it was produced by a middle school class with no idea of how to connect with the viewers.
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Sheer desperation.
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Actually, I think it was Jim who produced the ad while he was drinking his own kool-aid- and it turned out he was just behind a middle-school class who had no idea how to connect with voters. They would have at least had the class (or brains) to shake Chip’s hand.
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Right, it should be totally irrelevant that the Republican candidate for the US House in our district himself is saying on camera it’s good to outsource jobs to the Far East and import the cheap goods back to the US. Which costs us jobs and floods the US market with cheap imports at the same time. Anyone who thought that was a bad thing is most certainly a brainwashed communist. And here we are in economic shambles, the middle class gutted and incomes stagnating for years…..
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Somehow, I don’t think that being an elected representative means that you get to do what YOU think is right? Shouldn’t you do what your constituents want? You know, the people who put you in that office? Just saying…
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Translation: a rep. should only do what Rieka says he should do. How democracy actually works, his misunderstanding notwithstanding, is that our representatives do have their own principles and do what they think is right and, because of the fact that they were elected by a majority, automatically reflect the principles of their constituents. If their principles didn’t, they wouldn’t be in office.
Your paranoid fantasies of tyrannical Democrats ignoring the will of the right-wing majority is endlessly fascinating, but quite divorced from reality. There were a lot of scared, ignorant motivated old white people this time around. It’ll swing back the other way once this new set of right-wing lies about Obama’s achievements dissipate into the air like the tales of WMD’s back in 2006.
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Swap the parties you mentioned, and apply your own logic…it fits like a glove turned inside out.
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A little vague here. You mean in ’08 voters were scared and ignorant and voted out the GOP? I’d say scared for sure, but not at all ignorant. Anyone could see the mass destruction Republicans wrought everywhere. Endless war, soaring debt, the economy and infrastructure literally falling apart, corporate devils sucking us dry and undermining our democratic system of government. We’re just now starting to undo the damage but looks like the Great White Moron vote slightly prevailed due to the millions and millions in hidden campaign donations from the corporate-backed US Chamber and right-wing SuperPACs and the complete unwillingness of the right to lift a finger to help, more interested in causing the president (and thus the country) to fail.
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Tell me what has changed…endless wars and soaring debt.
Yep, both still a problem.
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The difference is Democratic leadership sees the cliff we’re hurtling towards and they’re trying to steer the enormous ship in another direction while the right just wants to accelerate more quickly towards it. It’s been only two years, with constant total Republican opposition. We’re already out of Iraq and trying to put measures in place to prevent future bailouts, match spending with cuts elsewhere, invest in long-term policies to cut spending. All with Republican opposition. You don’t get to destroy the problem-solvers’ solutions and then blame them for their failed solutions. Then re-propose what caused the problems in the first place.
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What jimbimbo thought was right is not what he was elected to do. His “vision” as he stated has nothing to do with anything other than furthering the far left liberal agenda. He was elected to the House of Representatives by CONSTITUANTS who sent hin to Washington to REPRESENT his constituants. Public service, not self service.
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So Oberstar not responding to emails from his constituents is the right thing? Oberstar not wanting to meet with the people of the 8th District about big issues. Oberstar calling people “flat earthers” is the right thing?
They showed a clip on Fox 21 of Oberstar from his campaign party last night, where he was very smug that he was going to win. They showed Donny Ness saying “We are sending Congressmen Jim Oberstar back to Washington to fight for us.” When the reporter asked him “what if the election doesn’t go your way.” He proceeds, in his smug tone: “Oh its not going to go, I’m not worried about that.” He is very mad that some unknown put him in his place. Oberstar, and the other local DFL’ers are not used to being heard the word “no” or losing. Even Mark Dayton kept his cool, and didn’t come out and say that he is victorious.
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It’s always good to start out the day with a good laugh. In ML’s world, an endless war, super soaring debt, failing economy and crumbling infrastructure are all peachy under the Obama regime.
Took 8 years to vote out the elephants. But only 2 years to vote the donkeys back out.
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