Last year, Adrian Fenty was the coolest, promising, intellectual, handsome young politician in Washington, D.C. But this year, there’s a new kid on the block, and he’s throwing down the gauntlet for D.C.’s former most popular kid. From the mean streets of Chicago, Barack Obama swaggered into the city, gliding over sleet-filled sidewalks with the confidence of a Zamboni. D.C. residents were sheepish as the new kid teased the city for its reaction to some January winter weather:
Not to be shamed on his own turf, when the next winter precipitation presented itself, Fenty put on his best flinty face and announced that Washington, D.C. schools would stay open, on a 2-hr. delay. He faced the storm with “Chicago toughness,” despite the fact that the city is not equipped with Chicago’s generous stockpile of snowplows and experience. The call resulted in complaints from area parents and teachers, some of whose neighborhoods were covered in 12 inches of snow, which local governments had yet to plow. Fenty responded to criticism with a mid-morning press conference, where he put on his coolest snow boots to show off for the new president:
Let’s hope Obama obliges him with an assuring soundbite, or a seat next to him at the lunch table.
