Last weekend, a group of secretive octagenarians, many of who had inherited vast wealth and power, gathered in a ritzy locale to toast one another and their firm grip on power. There were inside jokes, obscure references, and smug thanks given for staying in power for thirty-plus years. Was this a meeting of Castro's Cuban cabinet? Or perhaps the Board of Directors of a tony country club?
No. It was the Democratic Party. Our party. And the gathering was for John Burton, our leader's 80th Birthday Party. Oh sure, there were younger folks there. Jerry Brown, Nancy Pelosi, and Diane Feinstein are all in their 70s.
There was geographic diversity too. Not all these folks were from San Francisco. Some also live in Oakland.
Even former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, himself a NorCal denizen in his 70s, seemed to notice the self-congratulatory jokes on how little power has shifted hands in the purported party of youth and tomorrow.
Your blogger was a delegate to the Democratic State Convention. I have always believed, and I believe now, that the Democratic Party is the party of young people, of the entire state, of the poor and downtrodden, and the party that welcomes people of all ethnic groups and sexual orientations. But seeing them all on stage, and their endless back slapping, has started to grate. How is it that all of our highest party leaders are 70+ wealthy straight white folks from Northern California? As one columnist wrote, "It's only mildly hyperbolic to say that California's Democratic oligarchy is beginning to resemble the geriatric cabals that control China, Cuba and other one-party states."
These smug septuagenarians would not be so annoying if it wasn't for how they got there. It's hard to fathom at his age, but Jerry Brown was once considered the boy who owes everything to his name, i.e., he made it because his father was Governor. John Burton, similarly, owes his good fortune to a more serious and driven older brother, the now-deceased Phil. Feinstein owes here political ascension to a twist of fate: an assassination that made her Mayor. Nancy Pelosi comes from a political family too. Basically the only person in the cabal who is truly self-made is the African-America Willie Brown, who came to California as a penniless, unconnected janitor so many years ago. (The sad thing is, the rest were born on third but think they hit triples).
Surely some people remember the strong implication by Jerry Brown
on the campaign trail in 2010: that the state needed someone with
experience, who cared not about his political future, who wasn't going
to run again, to come in and crack heads and get stuff done. That
hasn't exactly happened. Sacramento is still dysfunctional, and all
signs point to Jerry Brown running for Governor again or even
President. To see how ridiculous that meme is, and how some think
voters will buy it again, consider the recent piece suggesting that the
recently defeated 70-something Howard Berman would come back to the Assembly to be Speaker.
Frankly, the implication that a wise old sage like Berman is needed to
come in and "ride in on a white horse" is an insult to current Speaker
John Perez, (barely above forty) who has had a better run than just
about any Speaker ever. Such implications should also be insulting to
any member of Generation X, let alone younger people. Is this really
the message the Democratic Party wants to send?
While analysts fall over themselves to hail the overwhelmingly
youthful, overwhelmingly Democratic Obama voter, few note that said
voters show up rarely, as in, once every four years or so. Why is it harder for Dems to win in true swing districts in non-presidential years? A large piece here in California is that Obama motivates the youth vote but the other leaders do not.
Monday, December 17, 2012
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You are kidding yourself if you think the current Speaker has had a successful run. He himself would tell you that because of term limits, he hasn't accomplished all that he should have and that the inexperience in the legislature (even though the members are very hard working) is responsible for many of the problems facing California today. Simple things like applying for grants from Washington haven't been happening because the people representing us in Sacramento don't know the system and the suggestion about Berman coming back was simply someone trying to find what everyone in Sacramento including the current speaker says is needed which is a few members with institutional memory. Just to give you an idea of how important this is, Los Angeles County has already had emergency meetings to discuss budget problems they are expecting from receiving less money from Washington due to the loss of Congressman Berman's representation there. The system is what it is. Don't blame the players, blame the system that made it this way.
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