“Hope springs eternal in the human breast, ” poet Alexander Pope wrote. Despite recent columns decrying 2009 and dreading 2010, I continue to believe responsible, accountable, efficient and cost-effective government can be a reality in the District.
My mother would accuse me of hitting my head against a brick wall and not having enough sense to walk away before I’m either unconscious or dead. Her wisdom comes from a life of Louisiana politics. I won’t taint the entire state. But, what you may have heard doesn’t sufficiently capture the full story. (With apologies to now-deceased Sen. Lloyd Bentsen), I know Louisiana, and the District of Columbia is no Louisiana. Changing politics in the Pelican State would take a powerful mojo. In the District, it just takes an engaged and vigilant public.
Am I wishing for too much?
But isn’t that the game we play each new year? We want an experience better than the last. So, we promise to take a hodgepodge of actions, hoping and wishing the future will be altered. We resolve to lose weight; to make more money; to refrain from speaking ill of the dead; to quit blaming the Chinese for the American economy; and to stop using those four-letter words to describe politicians who try to tell us we can’t have quality services despite the billions of dollars we pay in taxes — all sorts of taxes. Though the outcome of our effort often is abysmal, we nevertheless find ourselves the next Jan. 1 making yet another list.
Is that insanity?
Let me join the madness. I don’t have many resolutions. Still, I’ve decided to share a few. I’ve been told transparency enhances accountability, which may be why so much in the government is done in the shadows or behind closed doors.
Shucks. There I go. Already I’ve broken one of my resolutions. I had promised to be a kinder, gentler columnist.
Yes, really.
I’m also determined not to speak ill of D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray’s process obsession or Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s press conference mania. I won’t describe at-large Councilman Phil Mendelson’s style as “all trees and no forest.” I won’t refer to Ward 3’s Mary Cheh as the embedded People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals advocate on the council. Every time I see a Metro bus or subway train, I’ll refrain from imagining Councilman Jim Graham as its driver. Whenever I write about at-large Councilman Kwame Brown, I’ll avoid mentioning his daddy — a Marion Barry disciple who’s fixated on his son becoming mayor. I also won’t talk about at-large Councilman Michael Brown’s father, Ron Brown, who helped usher Bill Clinton into the White House; the son has used that feat to fuel his own political career.
But, no more daddy talk from me. Promise.
In fact, I’ve pledged to find at least one good thing in the executive or legislative branch about which I can write each month. Yes, really.
There’s no sense setting goals and making resolutions if you aren’t going to challenge yourself. Right?
Jonetta Rose Barras, hosts of WPFW’s “D.C. Politics with Jonetta,” can be reached at [email protected]
