Under blogging Mayor Jerry Brown, Oakland has come a long way. Now with Brown termed-out, former U.S. Congressman Ron Dellums has decided to leave his Washington, D.C. lobbying firm and get in the race. He is quoted by The Berkeley Daily Planet thusly:

“The strength of Oakland is in its diversity,” he said. “Development is wonderful. Development is necessary. But when the dust settles and the smoke clears, we must embrace the principle that all of Oakland’s diverse community must move forward together. That’s the principle we must embrace. No portion of this community should be standing in line saying ‘I’m waiting for my turn.’ This will be a multi-cultural and multi-racial campaign and administration.”

He's right: no one should be standing line. The question is, why are they in the line to begin with, and how do they get out? People of different income levels, different levels of educational achievement, and benefitting (or not) from varying degrees of nuclear family cohesion and parental engagement, cannot always "move forward together," as Dellums wishes. Some move ahead while some lag behind, due largely to individual choices made by parents about what kinds of lives they and children will have. The "equalized outcomes" rhetoric proferred by Dellums is standard social engineering that outlived its usefulness about 35 years ago.

Worse still is Dellums' anti-Americanism, burnished to a fine gleam during his career in Congress. He'd better keep it in check on the campaign trail and in office, if he's elected. Dellums was no garden-variety liberal Democrat; he went far beyond the pale. Here's some of what you need to know, from ChronWatch.

On social policy, Dellums seems frozen in a Nanny State time capsule. His record in Congress of "peace activism," er, allying with strident foreign interests intent on vilifying U.S. foreign policy, has made him a cultural icon with the Bay Area Left and the Democratic Party's Kucinich wing. His former aide, the distinguished U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee succeeded him. Despite Lee's popularity in the Ninth Congressional District (which includes Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda) Oakland isn't the same place as when Dellums earned his spurs in Congress. That's thanks in large part to Jerry Brown's eight-year run (see second link from top). Oakland needs another pragmatic, pro-business, pro-charter schools, law-and-order Democrat, which believe it or not, Jerry Brown turned out to be. Dellums began his political career as a city council member in Berkeley, in 1967. Today, he'd make a better Mayor of Berkeley, than Oakland.

The race is on. Among Dellums' early endorsements is one from the Service Employees Union International, which recently embarked upon an interesting anti-public relations campaign across the Bay. Oakland City Council President Igancio De la Fuente will be Dellums' strongest competitor. A nuts-and-bolts local politician who's more pro-growth, De la Fuente has been endorsed by Jerry Brown, the city's police, firemen, and The Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. He's got at least one big detractor in the blogosphere, and doubtless a number more in Oakland who see him as an insufficiently "progressive" Brown ally. City Council member Nancy Nadel is also running. If no one gets more than 50 percent next June, the top two will face off in November '06. Stay tuned.

TECHNORATI TAGS: OAKLAND, RON DELLUMS

TO COMMENT: The regular "comment" feature is not in operation. E-mail comments to address under "Contact" on main page masthead, and I'll add them, here.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at October 12, 2005 12:12 AM