As Sharpe James, Newark's legenday political powerhouse, leaves the stage without suffering the probable loss of another political contest, we are witnessing one more sign of a tectonic generational political shift.
The lesson? Though he did it with his signature theatrical flair, Sharpe knew when it was time to go. And he did.
With the passing of the giants of the civil rights era and those political pioneers who first took the reins of cities whose populations had become mostly minority by the 1960s and 1970s, new leadership and new questions emerge.
The real question is whether the new leadership -- Cory Booker in Newark, others in other communities -- will have what it takes to move our cities into a healthy, revitalized position in the 21st century.
Will these new leaders have the vision necessary to mobilize all the resources needed -- taxpayers, the business community, and investors?
Will these new leaders have the savvy to negotiate the difficulties that will arise on the path to progress?
Will these new leaders have the grit to stick to their guns through thick and thin, or will they give up and give in as the road gets bumpy?
Will these new leaders blaze a path forward for the mostly Democratic cities, and finally shed the paternalistic relationship forced on them by Democratic leadership elites stuck in a 19th-century machine-politics mold?
Sharpe gets to sail into the sunset as a Senator and an elder statesman.
The rest of us can watch and wait...or join the fray.
But the past is definitely the past.
-- Dan Damon
Keywords: Politics, Democrats
No comments:
Post a Comment