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The men who would be king
Where is that darned, elusive John Street?
The Democratic candidate for mayor was nearly invisible over the summer. The buzz around town is that it's tough to get any callbacks from his campaign.
Civic groups, trying to schedule candidates nights, say the Street campaign will deal with requests only if they are put in writing and sent via the mails. And then? And then nothing. Silence.
If Street is elected mayor, no one expects him to be just like Ed Rendell, King Schmooze himself.
Where Rendell is gregarious, Street is reticent. Where Rendell is a glad-hander, Street is reserved. Rendell has never seen a ribbon he didn't want to cut. Street doesn't seem that interested in the press-the-flesh side of politics.
Never let boredom show
And who can blame him? A politician's life is a hard one. It requires the constant exhibition of three unnatural traits: the ability to suffer fools gladly, never to let boredom show on your face, and to convince even a mortal enemy that he is like a brother to you.
Not many can do it and make it seem genuine. Ronald Reagan, Hubert Humphrey come to mind. And Rendell.
What was that line about the young Franklin Roosevelt? That he had a second-class intellect and a first-class temperament.
It sounds dismissive, until you realize how important temperament is to leadership. In the Depression, Roosevelt was able to convince America that confidence was as infectious as fear. He not only fostered hope, he personified it.
In Philadelphia, the polls tell us that people feel better about the city today, compared to the mass civic depression of eight years ago.
Rendell deserves a lot of credit for the change in mood. Is it because he balanced the budget and made city government more efficient? Is it because of the economic development projects he brought forth? Is it because he is perceived as competent? You can answer "yes" to all of the above.
But there's something more. Rendell's biggest achievement -- and his most fragile -- is that he persuaded us to be optimistic. And he did it through force of personality.
Theodore Roosevelt said the presidency is like the jobs of king and prime minister rolled into one.
You formulate policy. You head the bureaucracy. But you also fulfill the symbolic role as head of state. You run the government, you lead the nation. Ditto for mayor.
Sam Katz and John Street have first-class intellects. But what about temperament?
Street can say he's answered that question, through his election to five terms in City Council, through his rise to its presidency.
Different skills
But legislative leadership is different from civic leadership. Moving a majority behind a bill is different from moving the majority of the public behind an idea. It requires different skills.
For proof, let me offer Bill Green, who was mayor from 1980-84. Green was happy in Congress, but he ran for mayor because it was expected of him -- he being the great liberal hope, the antidote to Frank Rizzo.
As near as I could tell, he was miserable in the job. He had no affinity for the ceremonial side. When he walked into a crowd, you could see his back stiffen, his brow tighten. He was cautious in a contentious way only lawyers can be. You'll never get me to say anything that could ever possibly be used against me in any conceivable context.
He ran government efficiently, but he never connected well with the people. Nor did he care to.
Green did bring some very bright men into government. Alas, many of them were also insufferably arrogant. One of them was Sam Katz.
I didn't know Katz during the Green years. But when I hear the critical buzz on him -- arrogant, a know-it-all -- I get deja vu.
Maybe Katz, as mayor, will be a humble charmer. Maybe Street, if elected, won't be as reclusive and difficult as the Wizard of Oz.
The way I see it, the primary election settled one issue. We've got two men who will make fine prime ministers. But what about king?
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