Message to Obama: 90% of success is just showing up

A recent blog post in the Daily Yonder explains the major reason Barack Obama did so poorly in poor, rural areas: he didn't show up. He showed up in a few cities in Kentucky and West Virginia, but snubbed rural voters. The blog also takes to task one of my favorite columnists, Leonard Pitts, for criticizing the roughly 20% of West Virginia voters who said race was a factor in their decision, and in those cases, voted overwhelmingly for Clinton. However, that percent was virtually the same across the country, and in many states those who said race was an important factor voted for Obama. Jesse Jackson, probably more polarizing than Obama, actually did show up in rural, white Appalachia in 1988, and won more of the vote than Obama did in '08, in spite of the fact that Jesse Jackson ran in a crowded field. So everyone else is saying right now that what Obama needs to do to unite Democrats and our nation is to pick Hillary Clinton as his running mate. In fact, the answer might be more simple for Obama: just start showing up.