Change is in the air -- finally! Kwame Kilpatrick heads to jail in October, and Detroit gets a new shot at salvation with caretaker mayor Kenneth Cockrel, Jr. The new mayor seems like a no-nonsense, pragamatic leader, placing immediate emphasis on budget consolidation, crime fighting and basic city services.
It's harder than it should be to bring about positive change, but Detroit will certainly have a better chance at life under Cockrel than it had under Kilpatrick, who was essentially a Spiro Agnew type, a two-bit gangster. Now go to it, Detroit!
New chief of police James Barren (on left) shaking hands with Cockrel. Something better beginning . . . So far, so good . . .
Similarly, in Israel, Tzipi Livni has replaced departing prime minister Ehud Olmert as Kadima party leader, giving her a good chance of becoming the next prime minister (she's currently the foreign minister, and a moderate). Olmert, another Spiro Agnew type in the "donations" department, mired Israel in a bungled incursion of Lebanon in 2006. (Despite his shortcomings as prime minister, though -- from what I can tell -- Olmert seems nowhere near as bad as the last disgraced outgoing Israeli president, Moshe Katsav, who left office just last year).
Hopefully for both Detroit and Israel, things are looking up, or at least not quite as bad. Which may be the best we can hope for anytime soon -- all down the line.
Today's Rune: Breakthrough.
6 comments:
Just a warning. Politicians are often not what they seem.
I know. All too often. But hope springs eternal ;->
This is where we disagree Erik...in both cases, Israel and Detroit, there have been to many frustrations for me to support either. When i see changes I can believe in it is all just words of humans who can so easily be sucked into the black hole of "a better day."
They're going to have to show me that they can work with the Palestinians and that the Blacks and Whites as a community can work for the regions well being.
Then I will believe.
I hope the best for your city. I think Charles is right, but there is always hope and once in awhile some good candidates ride onto the scene.
Not all replacements are good. Look at who replaced Kenneth Cockrel, Jr. -- a certified lunatic. When Monica Conyers was asked if she buried the hatchett with "Shrek" (her words), she said she never goes to bed angry. Huh? What? Should I take her comment out of its crazy context and try to make sense of it? Probably not. Cockrel is not Kilpatrick.
Yay for girls in national leadership.
Good luck to Detroit.
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