POLITICS - Our very own mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, is being named the Chairman of the Democratic Convention.
This is a recognition of his high visibility as a young, dynamic, Hispanic leader in the Democratic Party. Or is it? Maybe it is the utter failure of the Obama Whitehouse to see him as we see him.
Yes, to be sure he has energy. He is indeed dynamic and visible and, yes, Hispanic. But as for what Bush Senior called "the vision thing," not so much. And as for the accomplishment thing? Again he falls short. He falls short of the ideal and even of adequacy.
He came to our mayorship in a blaze of glory. Would he be a skyrocket continuing to soar or a shooting star burning up in a rapid plunge? He fell. He fell to the temptation of nearly every LA mayor.
He started thinking too far ahead and forgot the job of actually governing. (Mr. Trutanich, are you paying attention?) Every LA Mayor starts thinking: "I could be governor." Then, thinking another move ahead, "Wow! I could be president!" Many a fair-haired boy has foundered on these rocky shoals of hubris and ambition--the Scylla and Charybdis of politic.
Add to this the Hollywood factor and all the tinsel and starlight. Thinking he was either JFK or Clinton, he took up with two TV news people (Female). This did diminish his family-values value since he was married at the time. But more than either a moral issue or even judgment, was the symbolism, the indication that he had gone Hollywood.
I wish him well with the next step of his career, but I do fear for the Democratic Party and the failure of the Whitehouse to dig deep enough beneath his veneer and find out what his own constituents think of him.
(Jonathan Dobrer is an op-ed contributor to the Daily News and Friendly Fire and is a syndicated columnist. This column was posted first at Friendly Fire. More on Jonathan and his books at www.Dobrer.com)
-cw
Tags: Mayor Villaraigosa, Democratic Party, Whitehouse, Obama, Carmen Trutanich
CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 14
Pub: Feb 17, 2012
