Jonetta Rose Barras: Mayoral race pushes city to move forward into the 21st century

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - This mayoral race provides the first authentic challenge to District voters' decision in 1998 to step away from “old guard, race-based politics” practiced by Marion Barry and his acolytes.

The candidates voters faced back then included several D.C. Council members, most notably Ward 7’s Kevin Chavous. He was poised to become mayor after Barry declined to run for reelection. But citizens concluded that electing Chavous would mean more of the same. So, they reached for Anthony Williams–then the city’s chief financial officer.

A nerdy guy satisfied with balance sheets, birds and canoes, Williams was a “new style” black leaders. (I have been writing since the early 1990s about folks like Detroit's former mayor Dennis Archer, Cleveland, Ohio’s former mayor Michael White, Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford, Jr.)

These new leaders are competent, savvy, professionals, who combine corporate acumen with street smarts and political sophistication. Not unlike Adrian Fenty, they demonstrate a mastery of technology and comfort in a world without rants and divisive racialism. They move with ease in multicultural environments and are the realization of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream. They meet the future with excellence and substance-not symbolism.

During that 1998 race, Williams was cast as villain: He didn't care about the elderly because he once tried to cut the budget of the Office on Aging. He didn't care about workers because he had the audacity to fire under-performers. He didn't know the city because he couldn't recite the boundary lines for each of the eight wards. He was a numbers cruncher who didn't know his head from the highway.

Still, District residents elected him, turning away from the past political culture to begin sculpting a new era.

While there have been moments of discomfort between Williams and some constituents, a recent poll indicating a 54 percent approval rating after nearly eight years and a huge battle over a baseball stadium affirms residents satisfaction. (Sharon Pratt Kelly won only 13 percent of the votes in her reelection bid. When Barry stepped down his numbers were only slightly better.)

A passing generation — epitomized by council Chairman Linda Cropp — finds it difficult to leave the stage. Sometimes they engage in distortions that border on lies to remain the center of attention. Fear fuels these worries and actions. Meanwhile, a community's progress can be stunted.

District voters again must decide which political culture to embrace: one steeped in the past, polished daily by individuals who use empty rhetoric and racial codes to demonize and divide, without providing a vision for economic, social or educational advancement. Or, one that reaffirms their earlier desire to be led by a new style politician, who possesses integrity and an unbreakable moral compass while moving with decisiveness, agility, and sophistication further into the 21st century.

Jonetta Rose Barras is the political analyst for WAMU radio’s D.C. “Politics Hour with Kojo and Jonetta.”

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