What I’m Reading in Who Cares? Magazine: The SF “Mayor’s Race”

Well, the drama, and the faux drama about Who Will Run Against Gavin is over, and frankly, I’m glad. 7 months of rumor mongering, backroom posturing, puttering, talking, and whatnot is done, and we know what will happen. The Mayor will be re-elected. Big surprise. Despite the “showmanship” of certain candidates, or Internet notoriety of others, there is really nothing to see here any longer.
Oh, sure we’ll be treated to the outbursts of people upset that the mainstream media doesn’t treat them as seriously as The Mayor. Guess what? They’re not serious candidates, they don’t care if they win or not, most of these people are just using the elections process to have a laugh and promote themselves for other things they do. Meanwhile, any serious debate or policy changes to address the rising violent crime rate, problems at MUNI, or the sense this city is sliding into Third World like conditions, will fall by the wayside.
As such, I’m making a conscious decision to not write any more blog posts or read any “news” about the Mayor’s race because it isn’t a “race.” I’m even going to end my silly prank trying to get some MUNI fixes via the Mayor’s own website, which of course was ignored, despite all those Google ads to “get a blog and make policy.”
The Mayor will get re-elected, no matter how many Burning Man people run around town posting silly signs, or how many videos Josh Wolf makes, or whatever the other baker’s dozen of candidates does. I don’t know that I even need to vote in this race, since it is not like the Mayor will lose if I don’t vote for him , and all the expensively hand counted “ranked choice voting” ballots in the world won’t change the results through some hippie dust magic.
In other words, a perfect article for Who Cares? magazine. As for me, I’ll be reading something else.
PS: I think this moment is the sign that the Progressive Era of 2000-2008 is coming to a definite end. The assorted folks who made up a so-called “progressive” majority (which really was not a monolithic block the way the mainstream press and the prog haters like to suggest) managed to pass all sorts of legislation and the like, and that’s groovy.
The fact remains, though, that even after Magical Matt’s 2003 phenomenon, there has been a distinct inability to build a permanent political infrastructure, and no mentoring of new people to take the place of those who will leave due to term limits. And the fact that after all the gimmicks of ranked choice voting, public financing, and more, they still can’t come up with a real candidate says a lot.
I don’t know that this is an opportunity for the so-called “moderates” since their machine tends to mint dull, uncaring candidates that don’t fare well in local races. But the age of puttering around, trying to herd a random pack of personalities, politicos, and what not for “last minute surges” is over, especially as the real estate market and city policy continue to make San Francisco a land for the well off, the extremely poor, and push out everyone in between.