What's the Mood in the Hood?

In an interview with Charlie Rose, John Hofmeister, President & CEO of Shell Oil recalls a conversatiion he recently had with the Mayor of Los Angeles. The title of this diary is the question that he asked. He is now retired from Shell, and he appeared on the Glenn Beck Show. The following exchange took place:
BECK: And you said, "Glenn, I listen to you, and thing I like you, is you call them like it is and you are frank." You said you were going to model yourself after that when you became -- when you were no longer the president of Shell, well, you`re not. What is it that you -- go ahead.

HOFMEISTER: I said I was going to sharpen my tongue -- so that I could speak at least come close to speaking as sharply as you.

I just said it in part -- it`s time for the bosses of this country to turn the table on the elected representatives and start instructing our elected representatives on what the people of this country -- the consumers of this country demand, and that is more energy of all kinds, including more oil and gas.

Hofmeister has just started a new not-for-profit company, Citizens for Affordable Energy.

I didn't write this diary just to promote John Hofmeister. I really think the Republican Party needs to promote the idea of finding more energy from a point of view of not only finding new energy but also increasing the number of high paying union jobs that will be a part of the new drilling and oil exploration activity. I want to take a broader look at 'what's the mood in the hood?'

Sen. Obama was at the height of his popularity when things were not going so well for our troops in Iraq. Well, no thanks to Sen. Obama and his ilk, things are now going quite well for our troops in Iraq. Plans are already in place to draw down the number of servicemen currently deployed in Iraq. They can leave Iraq successfully completing their mission to stand the Iraqi troops up so that they can stand down.

When a mission in Iraq is no longer the primary issue on voters' minds, then he needs to appeal to them on more than his stance on going to war in Iraq.

His answer to people concerning the high cost of gas at the pump is to tell them they need to change how they live. They need to visit that pump less often by getting themselves a mini-compact hybrid car.

His answer to people concerning the crumbling neighborhoods and family values is for men to follow planned parenthood's teachings of safe sex and abortion if the safe sex doesn't work.

Jesse might have been crude, but he has a point that Barry is 'talking down at black people.' I'm no cockstradamus, but I think the Republican Party has a very good chance to win in November. We need to look at winning over a voter as an individual at a time, and we need to stop thinking of people as part of a monolith political bloc. Appeal to an individual whether he lives in Watts district of LA or on a farm in rural Kansas.