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Wouldn’t you have loved to be in the room in Miami on Saturday when the two leading narcissistic politicians in America, Mayor Villaraigosa of Los Angeles and Barack Obama of Chicago, did a stomach bump before sitting down to discuss the mayor’s role in the Presidential campaign this summer?
You may be certain there was no Alphonse-and-Gaston interlude when each took one step backward, bowed graciously and aggressively insisted, “No, you go first.” Their massive egos crowded all of the oxygen to the sidelines.
For the crucial ethnicity bean-counters in the Obama camp, reeling in Mr. Villaraigosa is seen as a coup. At the moment, the mayor — dashing, handsome, articulate and holding a prominent chair —is a more attractive magnet for Latino voters than New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, whose name is a handicap when trying to capitalize on his Latino roots.
Gotta Run, Says the Mayor
Away from public view, Mayor I Love Me has been furiously greasing his machinery for his next run, tentatively — but not definitely — the mayoralty race in March. Depends on a variety of races in the coming months.
No sooner did the mayor return from a speedy 17-person junket to Israel — trolling nakedly for Jewish votes — than he flew off to Miami, which bills itself as America’s Poorest City, for the national Conference of Mayors. “Villaraigosa Criticizes Bush Administration Record on Poverty,” says this morning’s headline in the Los Angeles Times. My golly, Murgatroyd. I am stunned. George Burns has used more new lines this century than Mayor I Love Me, and how many years has he been gone? If the weather were as predictable as Mayor I Love Me, we would not need the Weather Channel.
If Mr. Obama wins in November, he lottery may go to Mr. Villaraigosa. Unless the mayor does something dumb this summer, and he is capable, he could almost gain his choice of high-profile Washington posts, a further springboard to national prominence.
Add One and Take Away Two
First, what is wrong with Mayor I Love Me as a Vice Presidential choice? Is the candidate really saving that chair for a white woman?
Oh, the boys and girls in the Obama elves’ sweatshop are busy these hot summer days. The calculations that Barack, Michelle and their left-wing friends have put into his career in the last two decades are almost dwarfed by the deadly gender and ethnic manipulations that dominate the present campaign.
Doesn’t this sound like a typical Obama administrative memo: “One more short black dude over here and one tall, preferably blonde, white woman over there, and then we will have rounded out the staff.”
For all of Mr. Obama’s insufferable daily boasting about how much he has accomplished all by himself, Mayor Villaraigosa outstrips him in ethnic bona fides.He has two Mexican parents. Mr. Obama, who can’t decide which saintly parent he should exaggerate more about, comes up one short in both categories.
No Criticism, Please
Ever since the most influential media in America awarded the White House election to Mr. Obama, as of February, the credibility of the principal newspapers and every television network except Fox, has suffered, along with their advertising and circulation revenues. With journalists slavishly co-operating, scant criticism of Mr. Obama has slipped through. Grooms walking down the aisle have been more reralistically critical of their brides.
The story of exactly why so many journalists have taken a dive will be told later, after the election. Mr. Obama, meanwhile, has resembled a used-car salesman with his major position reversals and embarrassing inaccuracies, all of which suggested a weakened character. For the other side of the story, check this out: It is not likely that columnist David Brooks’ rounded critique of “Fast Eddie Obama” in last Saturday’s New York Times will be equalled before November.
