Column: Kaine gets the job done
David Covucci, CT Regular Columnist
April 18, 2007
Tim Kaine's last two day's are like nothing he's ever experienced.
The governor arrived in Tokyo, Japan at 6 p.m. Monday, Tokyo time. Jetlagged, he went straight to bed. Less than six hours later, around midnight, he received a call from his office, informing him about the shootings in Blacksburg.
"I was just shocked at the news," said Kaine. "I wanted to get home immediately."
And did just about that. Kaine immediately called his team together, and they finagled the first flight out of the Japanese capital.
Unfortunately, for Kaine, that flight wouldn't be leaving until 11 that morning. So he waited and watched the news. It was all he could do, half a world away from his home.
"I watched the news, first in my room, then a coffee shop, and then finally in the airport lobby," said Kaine. He wasn't completely disconnected though. "I did manage to talk to President (Charles) Steger and President Bush."
At that point, Kaine had been in Tokyo for 17 hours. He stepped back on a plane for a flight that would be nearly as long as his stay: 14 hours.
"That was really frustrating," Kaine said of the flight. "I had been up all night watching the news and was very tired, I just wanted to be back."
He totaled 28 hours in a plane in a 45 hour span. Yet the most taxing part, coming to a community completely and utterly rocked by tragedy, hadn't even begun.
However, from his time watching the news in Japan, Kaine knew that he wasn't coming to an inconsolable town, but rather a place that had already begun its healing.
"I saw something very special when I was watching the news," said Kaine. "I noticed all the people wearing Virginia Tech hats and sweatshirts, saying positive things in the face of immense tragedy."
Kaine was particularly impressed by the students' composure when dealing with the hawkish media that had descended on the town.
"I saw all these reporters asking divisive question, and the students stayed strong," said Kaine. "They didn't place blame, they weren't going to let anything divide them."
It was with this attitude that Kaine arrived in Cassell Coliseum, literally straight from Tokyo, ready to address the Hokie nation.
He gave a poignant, yet invigorating speech. While he called yesterday "the darkest day in the history of the university," he did not rue in despair.
He compared the university's plight with that of Job, the biblical figure whom God tested.
"Job was angry, he argued with God," he said. "And that's ok."
But while he knew that many students and faculty would be gripped by anger, he implored the school to maintain, what he believed, its greatest strength.
"Do not lose hold of this sense of community," said Kaine. It was a theme he repeated throughout the speech.
The long, arduous day did not end there, though. Afterward convocation, he headed to a press conference at the Inn at Skelton, tackling the media's toughest questions.
Kaine announced he would appoint a team of people with "strong law expertise," to address both Tech's response to this shooting and future security measures at universities throughout Virginia. He said he hoped he could have that committee in place by the end of today.
However, throughout the press conference, he maintained his overall commitment to both the short- and long-term future of the university.
"The most important thing for the time being is to comfort each other, he said. "But we will continue helping with the recovery."
Afterwards, he headed off. He was weary, from probably the longest day of his life, but he had done his job.