Not a word from Pamela Price regarding her historic recall. Four days of silence! She could have been the gracious loser, thanking the voters of Alameda County for electing her in the first place, saying what a privilege it has been to be District Attorney, pledging to help the new D.A. make the transition. But no. Angry, defiant and resentful, Price is holed up someplace, trying to figure out what the hell just happened.
Let me tell her.
First, she must be feeling some confusion. She’s probably thinking, “What the hell do people want? When I was a candidate I told them what I’d do, and they elected me. Then, when I actually did it, they turned against me.” Well, Ms. Price, you went wrong in two places. First, you didn’t understand that politicians run on poetry but govern in prose, as Mario Cuomo once observed. That means that you can say anything you want to get elected, but when you do, you’re supposed to govern, not play to the cop haters, who were your most extreme supporters. You made the mistake of thinking that just because the wokest, least informed people in Alameda County voted for you, you could overturn the criminal justice system, letting thousands of thugs return to the streets, and everybody would love you. You failed to understand that the people want, more than anything, to be free from predators.
Your second mistake, once you were in office, was to basically flip off the people of Alameda County. Once the criticisms started streaming in, you should have listened--taken them seriously, because they were serious criticisms. Instead, you got defensive, rudely dismissing your critics as if they were idiots. You blamed “outside MAGA billionaires,” which was highly offensive to us. We know we’re not MAGA. We know we’re not billionaires. And we certainly know where we live! You insulted the good people of Alameda County, which is a really dumb thing to do for a politician.
And so you’re out.
Now, in your bitter silence, you can do some reflecting. Maybe you’ve been wrong all along about this “social justice” and “decarceration” stuff. Maybe the good citizens of Alameda County really do want criminals rounded up and arrested. Maybe they don’t agree with you that structural racism and White supremacy force people to break the law. Maybe they believe that you have too much sympathy for Black criminals, and that you, Pamela Price, are the real racist, not them. Maybe, Ms. Price, you’re out of step from where Oakland, Alameda County and America are at.
But I don’t suppose you’ll conclude these things at all. I think in your obstinacy and close-mindedness, you and your posse will decide to blame everything on racism, as you always have. You’ll sit there stewing, and hanging out with people who will reinforce your views and tell you that you’re the victim. Well, Ms. Price, here’s a suggestion. Start spending time with real people, not just with Black nationalists and race agitators and resentful losers like Cat Brooks. Have coffee with parents in the Hills, families in Dublin and Sunol, White and Asian voters in Union City and Pleasanton and, yes, ordinary working folks in Oakland. Ask them why they voted to recall you, and then listen. Don’t get defensive. Don’t Pam-splain that they don’t understand what a D.A. really does. They do understand, Ms. Price. It’s you who don’t understand.
Steve Heimoff