Mayor for 3 to 5
What an amazing and screwed up city I live in. Marion Barry has once again tested positive for drug use. The same Marion Barry that failed to report half a million dollars of income to the IRS over the last few years. The same Marion Barry that was convicted of cocaine possession in 1990, when he was set up by ‘the bitch’. The same Marion Barry that has incidents like these dotting his record. How did this guy manage to keep stepping on his own dick so publicly? Why did people keep giving him the chance? Those aren’t rhetorical questions. I’m really asking.
It’s not like the personal and legal troubles were the only things to raise red flags regarding The Mayor for Life. It’s well known that he and his cronies managed to mismanage DC and its finances so heinously that partial financial control of the city was given to the federal government and DC home rule was set back at least 10 years. Yet he was given another chance on the City Council.
He is still tremendously popular in Southeast DC’s Ward 8. The tone of the man on the street reactions in the papers this morning was not one of anger. They feel sorry for the guy. They empathize with him. I’ve never understood the allure of wanting to elect the candidate that you can most relate to on a personal level. This goes for Marion Barry as well as George Bush. I want my leaders to be better than me. I want them smarter and more experienced. I don’t want to have a beer with them. I sure as hell don’t want them smoking crack with some broken down hooker in a cheap motel room. I want them to be so damn sharp that I would be intimidated by their intellect. Most people don’t see things that way. The sheep want to be comforted by the fact that their elected officials, while wealthier and more famous, are just as stupid as they are.
Ward 8 elected Barry as their councilman to give a big middle finger to the rest of a city that is growing and prospering while they are not. While I can respect their sense of anger and disenfranchisement, I can’t respect their judgment. The single finger salute is not the way to tell the rest of the city that you would like a piece of the prosperity pie. Going out and getting some slick, calculating representative like Adrian Fenty would go a lot further towards that end.
It’s not like the personal and legal troubles were the only things to raise red flags regarding The Mayor for Life. It’s well known that he and his cronies managed to mismanage DC and its finances so heinously that partial financial control of the city was given to the federal government and DC home rule was set back at least 10 years. Yet he was given another chance on the City Council.
He is still tremendously popular in Southeast DC’s Ward 8. The tone of the man on the street reactions in the papers this morning was not one of anger. They feel sorry for the guy. They empathize with him. I’ve never understood the allure of wanting to elect the candidate that you can most relate to on a personal level. This goes for Marion Barry as well as George Bush. I want my leaders to be better than me. I want them smarter and more experienced. I don’t want to have a beer with them. I sure as hell don’t want them smoking crack with some broken down hooker in a cheap motel room. I want them to be so damn sharp that I would be intimidated by their intellect. Most people don’t see things that way. The sheep want to be comforted by the fact that their elected officials, while wealthier and more famous, are just as stupid as they are.
Ward 8 elected Barry as their councilman to give a big middle finger to the rest of a city that is growing and prospering while they are not. While I can respect their sense of anger and disenfranchisement, I can’t respect their judgment. The single finger salute is not the way to tell the rest of the city that you would like a piece of the prosperity pie. Going out and getting some slick, calculating representative like Adrian Fenty would go a lot further towards that end.
Labels: My 'The City', politics
posted by DC Viking at 10:49 AM
1 Comments:
Can you believe there is to be a rally in favor of marrion. Pro-Barry rally.
click here for the awful truth:
http://dcbubble.blogspot.com/2006/01/morning-flash-rally-in-alley.html
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