Mayor Adrian Fenty, under whom the murder rate has gone down and the school children’s test scores have gone up, was resoundingly defeated for re-election.
Nor was Mayor Fenty simply a passive beneficiary of the rising test scores and falling murder rates. He appointed Michelle Rhee as head of the school system and backed her as she fought the teachers’ union and fired large numbers of ineffective teachers-- something considered impossible in most cities across the country.
Mayor Fenty also appointed the city’s chief of police, Cathy Lanier, who has cracked down on hoodlumism, as well as crime.
Either one of these achievements would made mayors local heroes in most other cities. Why then was he clobbered in the election?
One key fact tells much of the story: Mayor Fenty received more than 70 percent of the white vote in Washington. His opponent received more than 80 percent of the black vote.
Both men are black. But the head of the school system that he appointed is Asian and the chief of police is a white woman. More than that, most of the teachers who were fired were black. There were also bitter complaints that black contractors did not get as many of the contracts for doing business with the city as they expected.
When the new mayor fires the head of the School System and the Chief of Police and installs his own cronie who may not be as ineffective; the idiots who elected him is going to complain how racism has made their city the cesspool that it is. :suicide:
These people do not deserve any compassion when the crime rates climb and the educational scores plummet. JM2CW.
It seems in all venues in life these days that good/hard/smart work and determination is being punished; and slacking off/ignorance/doing a terrible job is being rewarded…
I guess thats what they mean when they say “progressivism”…
Hopefully the balance beam will shift back the other way soon before it is too late.