Thomas Friedman Likes Atlanta’s Kasim Reed
Decatur Metro | December 26, 2010In this morning’s New York Times, professional opinionist hails Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed as a the new breed of “pay-as-you-go progressive” we could stand to see a few more of in this country.
One of the best of this new breed of leaders is Atlanta’s inspiring mayor, 41-year-old Kasim Reed. A former Georgia state senator, Reed won Atlanta’s mayoral race in December 2009 by 714 votes. The day he took office, Atlanta had $7.4 million in reserves, an out-of-control budget and was laying off so many firefighters there were only three personnel on a truck, below national standards. A year later, it has $58 million in reserves, and Reed has a 70 percent approval rating — which he earned the hard way.
Friedman goes on to recount some of the tough fiscal decisions Reed has made over his first year in office, reallocating funds to do things like hire more Atlanta firefighters, instead of “kicking the can down the road”.
So if it’s true that people aren’t just giving lip-service about “pay-as-you-go” politicos, why haven’t Kasim Reed-types taken offices all across the country, already?
Perhaps I’m expecting a bit much from our purposely slow-and-steady democratic process.
Latest from Decaturish
IMHO, Americans don’t vote on track record or evidence-based strategies, they vote on ideology, slogans, TV ads. So unfortunately the well-reasoned opinions of conservative, moderate, or liberal thinkers may be irrelevant. Maybe this is a downside of the decline of the influence of religion–faith is better used for religion, morality, and ethics than for politics, economics, and government policy.
But no matter how cynical, I still believe in democracy and find it hopeful that a conservative thinker approves of a progressive’s approach…
Sensible no-chrony leadership in Atlanta City government!?
So far, so good. But observations of Atlanta’s past leadership still leaves me with a lot of skepticism. Hope to be proven wrong.
In politics, skepticism is good. I was an early believer in Shirley and Bill before her but in light of their records, I was disappointed.
Kasim has shown some impressive non-political decision making skills so far, but the article was a bit over the top. I hope he lives up to the promise that Friedman talked about, but it’s a little early to say that he’s America’s next great hope. Shirley Franklin was also received constant praise, and much deserved, in her first four years, and but then pissed a lot of people off in her second four year term. We’ll see if Kasim can keep the city united over the long haul.