As I write this on Wednesday morning, Loren Taylor has a slight but impressive lead over Barbara Lee. The conventional wisdom, endlessly repeated by the media, is that early returns favor the more moderate candidate (Taylor) while later returns incline toward the progressive (Lee). So we should expect the gap to narrow in the next few days. At the same time, turnout in the Hills—which went heavily to Taylor—appears to have been greater than in the flatlands, which is a good sign for him. So we’ll just have to wait and see, frustrating as that is.
I am so puzzled why anyone would vote for Lee. It’s said that she did well in North Oakland. In trying to figure that out, I’m struck that North Oakland is where a lot of young students live. With all due respect to young students, they tend to vote with their hearts, not their heads. They’re not confirmed Oaklanders; they live here for a few years and then move on. They don’t have a good understanding of our issues. They know that (a) they feel sorry for homeless people and (b) they dislike cops. And so they vote accordingly. Progressives also feel sorry for homeless people, and of course progressives have been bashing cops for many years. For most of us (you, me and the rest of us rational types), we know that the progressive or “woke” ideology is directly responsible for the ruination of Oakland, but young voters can’t put two and two together. Discerning how a cause brings about a particular effect can require intellectual dexterity, not a kneejerk response to a campaign slogan. You and I know that Lee’s campaign promise is a total sham. Here it is, from her website:
“Working together, we will provide shelter/services/programs to our unhoused residents, invest in public safety and violence prevention programs, and provide more housing, education, and economic development in historically underrepresented communities.”
This is a nauseating smorgasbord of empty, meaningless rhetoric—more misleading promises that Lee has no intention of fulfilling, or ability to. It’s pie in the sky BS. But it’s idealistic and aspirational, so all those young voters inclined to vote for Lee can tell themselves how virtuous they are for siding with the angels. Never mind that Lee’s entire program boils down to (1) raising taxes and (2) throwing the money at dubious, sketchy programs that simply increase the bureaucracy (and thus the number of her supporters on the payroll). A truly intelligent voter who’s lived in Oakland for years would know that this woke approach has never, ever worked or even come close to working and therefore should not be replicated into the future. But young Lee voters are not truly intelligent. They will be in a few more years, as increasing age confers upon them increasing responsibilities and insight, but right now, it’s irresponsible for allow them to have so much control over our futures.
But unfortunately, that’s the law. They’re allowed to vote. And we have to live with the outcome.
The most offensive thing about Lee’s campaign is that she’s calling it One Oakland, on the premise that only she can “bring us together.” If you remember, Richard Nixon made the same promise, and how did that work out? The truth is, if she’s elected the opposition to her begins immediately, and it will be fierce. She’ll racialize everything in Oakland even more than it already is, and with winks and nods she’ll let her Cat Brooks-inspired followers know that she will not permit the Oakland Police Department to do its job because, well, you know, all cops are bastards. Look, if Barbara Lee is elected, this city will spiral further down into decrepitude and racial division. But right now, I’m hopeful. Loren has a decent lead, and if he can hang on to it, we’ll at least be in a position to turn our beloved city around. That is, if Mayor Taylor has the courage to change things.
Steve Heimoff