Hugo Gurdon writes for the Washington Examiner about Virginia’s new governor.
It would be apt to describe the new Democratic governor of Virginia the same way Joe Biden described Barack Obama when the two men were running against each other for president in 2008 — “articulate and bright and clean.” Abigail Spanberger looks the part.
In her trim blue suits, she gives or gave the impression of being ready to govern the commonwealth efficiently and effectively. But looks deceive, and you cannot judge this book by its cover. If you had never seen her kempt conventional exterior and were to base your expectations only on reading a list of her actions since taking office on Jan. 17, you’d picture a radical leftist of the most repellent kind, perhaps replete with purple hair and a pierced eyebrow.
What you see with Spanberger is not what you get. It is also not what you were led to believe when she was hopefully trawling for votes all over Virginia. Looking at the path she chose, it’s clear that the Abby Road to power is a crooked one.
Back in the mists of time, the autumn of 2025 to be precise, Spanberger carefully made it seem as though she would focus on middle-class economic concerns, such as about the price of everything from groceries to housing.
But that hasn’t happened, and the reason it hasn’t is that the new governor is the very model of a modern bait-and-switch Democrat. Her party loves her for it. The gulf between her presentation and reality is the measure of her cynical approach to elections, treating them as confidence tricks in which winning is all and honor is nothing. Her modus operandi dispenses with the notion of democratic accountability. It is all about conning citizens rather than persuading them. In this approach, you do not show voters what you are or what you believe, then convince them that such attributes and policies are what is best for their future. Instead, you pretend you are not what you are and hope the dupes will be fools enough to fall for it.
