Bob Orr could be really, really obnoxious about this.

The former state Supreme Court justice, who is now head of a conservative public interest group in Raleigh, could be shouting “I told you so” or “I was right, you were wrong” or various other taunts as the Triad and state reel from Wednesday’s announcement that Dell will close its Forsyth County computer manufacturing plant early next year.

But Orr, who also ran for the GOP nomination for governor last year, isn’t that kind of a guy. Instead, the vocal opponent of incentives in general and specifically Dell’s $279 million state and local incentives package granted in 2004, has expressed regrets for the 905 job loses and the negative economic impact in the Triad. He’s also commenting that if the state must have an incentives program, it should be to encourage small businesses and home-grown industry with strong Tarheel State ties, not massive, interstate and international corporations that just want the best business deals they can negotiate.

In a statement Wednesday, Orr noted that “No matter how big the incentive package, operational decisions by businesses headquartered out-of-state will be driven by corporate financial considerations and not by any sense of loyalty to the community being left behind.”

The amount of taxpayer money Dell has received so far isn’t clear yet, but we suspect it’s in the tens of millions of dollars. It will be up to the lawyers and accountants representing state and local taxpayers to make sure in the coming months that the state and local governments get all the money they possibly can out of Dell and return it to state and local coffers.

And as for Orr, no, he isn’t gloating over how Dell’s stay in North Carolina has turned out and how correct he was in assessing the situation. But he’s still making his position on incentives clear to all. And now, perhaps, more of us are listening to him.