Harry Jaffe: Fenty turns good will to bad blood
By: Harry Jaffe
Examiner Columnist
February 9, 2009
The last time we witnessed Adrian Fenty's raw political wizardry on the campaign trail, he left our heads spinning and competitors in his wake.
Who can forget the young council member knocking on every door as if it were a marathon? We remember that commercial with Fenty showing off the holes worn in his shoes from walking the city. We remember images of Fenty and his lovely wife, Michelle. Fenty with his cute twin boys. With his parents, the shopkeepers.
He was the native son we wanted to succeed.
What has happened to that masterful politician? Fenty is still in perpetual motion, but the fluidity and ease of the man in motion to curry favor and votes has morphed into a gaunt and frenzied executive who has no time for people. Many who have dealt with him describe him as dismissive, short-tempered, a bit haughty, occasionally petulant.
Rarely has a politician squandered so much natural good will. Fenty seems to have actively turned positives into negatives.
Take Fenty at the wheel of his own car. We Washingtonians are used to overprotected pols, to mayors showing up with a few cars and a security detail of cops wired up like Secret Service stiffs. How cute was it to see Fenty drive himself around town? The Smart car was a bit weird, with his bald pate bouncing above the roof, but you had to admire his pluck and his lack of need for pomp and muscle.
All in all, a major positive.
Then we come to find out he's letting his buddies drive around in city sedans. Then Fenty, driving his kids around in a city car, gets into an accident. His spokesmen prevaricate, a cop fudges the accident report, and when asked why he was driving, Fenty snapped: "Because I have a license."
A positive into a negative.
Marion Barry as mayor was a drunkard and druggie; Tony Williams came off as effete; Fenty is a finely tuned athlete. He trains at city tracks and runs triathlons around the country. A positive. But as mayor he has ordered cops to escort his bike rides, trains in secret, and has installed a heater in a pool where he trains. Positive to negative.
Fenty has a lovely family, from his parents to his wife and kids. Brothers, too. But rather than share his family with the city, he has walled it off. Sure, he doesn't want to exploit or expose them, but why treat them as royalty? Having decided to send his boys to public school, he could have walked them to class and left all with the warm and fuzzies. Instead, he stiff-armed any and all questions about them.
Another positive into another negative.
Why?
Friends and associates say Fenty sees life and politics as one big athletic event. It's Adrian against the city council, against Cora Barry, against the press. Cross him, and he will crush you.
Back in the campaigning days, the press loved Adrian. Now, not so much. It begs the question: Can you run against the press?
We shall see.
E-mail Harry Jaffe at hjaffe@washingtonexaminer.comMore from Harry Jaffe
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