Fenty: friendly fascism, plantation politics

[Hannah Bell]

By Courtland Milloy
Thursday, September 16, 2010; B01

In a stunning repudiation of divisive, autocratic leadership, District residents Tuesday toppled the city's ruling troika: Mayor Adrian Fenty, Attorney General Peter Nickles and Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee. All busted up. The trio's contempt for everyday people was handed back to them in spades at the polls. Payback is a . . . well, you know what they say...

Watch them at the chic new eateries, Fenty's hip newly arrived "creative class" firing up their "social media" networks whenever he's under attack: Why should the mayor have to stop his work just to meet with some old biddies, they tweet. Who cares if the mayor is arrogant as long as he gets the job done? Myopic little twits. And lordy don't complain about Rhee.

She's creating a "world-class school system," they text. As for you blacks: Don't you, like, even know what's good for you? So what if Fenty reneged on his promise to strengthen the city from the inside by helping the working poor move into the middle class. Nobody cares that he has opted to import a middle class, mostly young whites who can afford to pay high rent for condos that replaced affordable apartments. Don't ask Fenty or Rhee whom this world-class school system will serve if low-income black residents are being evicted from his world-class city in droves. You blacks, always playing the race card.

A word of advice to Gray: Do not overlook the bile on the ballot. The disappointment, anger, feelings of betrayal that propelled the D.C. Council chairman to victory have not burned out. Not quite. What happened Tuesday involved more than just the unseating of a mayor with an abrasive style. It was a populist revolt against Fenty's arrogant efforts to restructure government on behalf of a privileged few. The scheme was odious: re-create a more sophisticated version of the plantation-style, federally appointed three-member commission that ruled the city for more than a century until 1967.

The Fenty troika eerily mirrored the old antebellum system of control, which featured a chairman for public works, which is what Fenty was, in essence; a chairman with expertise in legal maneuverings, Nickles; and a chairman for education and welfare issues, Rhee. It all makes for a kind of friendly fascism in which D.C. government serves the interest of business leaders and landed gentry. Remarkably, his approach became much ballyhooed: Fenty, his supporters raved, was making the trains run on time...

http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2010/09/which-eli-broad-leech-will-seize-on.html

[autorank]

1. I heard the school chief on Cojo's show k*r

And I have no idea why I listened. But Cojo nailed her. He said, 'You'll be resigning if Fenty loses' and she just about gasped. it was a "real" moment.

[Hannah Bell]

2. who's cojo? can you link it?

[Hannah Bell]

4. k

[autorank]

5. Kojo Nnamdi Show (I had name wrong)

He's an excellent DC politics radio show host, WAMU, the American University NPR thing.

Here's the link to his show

http://thekojonnamdishow.org/

and here's the link to the shows that Michelle Rhee has been on

http://thekojonnamdishow.org/search/google?cx=006045162988948360930%3Aypbfg6vxxwi&cof=FORID%3A11&query=michel+rhee&op=Search&form_build_id=form-484dab8c1b7979cbdf786037027064ef&form_id=google_cse_searchbox_form#933

Interesting take this a.m. from an education reformer

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/18/AR2010091803166.html

[Starry Messenger]

3. k & r

[YvonneCa]

6. kick n/t

[Stinky The Clown]

7. "Stunning repudiation"

Not really. It is what LEBERALS do when faced with center-right leadership. Its a version of "throw the bums out" and I think its great.

Good riddance to yesterday's trash.

Maybe they all go to Ben's Chili Bowl for a final nosh with friends.

[pinto]

8. Actual title of Milloy's WaPo piece, fwiw -

"D.C. election didn't just unseat abrasive Mayor Fenty. It was a populist revolt."

(aside) And, just a reminder. Please limit re-posts of copyrighted material to no more than 4 paragraphs. Thanks. ~ pinto