A San Francisco Democrat

The following piece was a submission to
the Japan Democrats Abroad newsletter. My
friends know me as a political nomad and that
is obvious from the tone here where I proudly
proclaim my loyalty to urban street mob politics
(threatening Nancy Pelosi with demonstrations
outside her office if she screws up as Speaker)
Enjoy.

A San Francisco Democrat

A few years ago I was giving advice to some enthusiastic newborn politicos in Shanghai who were starting up the Democrats Abroad branch there. “Decide what kind of Democrat you are” was at the top of the list. Be you a Blue Dog, a DLCer, or a Progressive Caucus member, self definition is important as it provides you with an anchor when the winds of policy and political fortune blow in every direction. Applying this maxim to myself I can say that I am a ‘San Francisco Democrat.” Eight years of residence in that festive city iced it for me forever.
My ballot arrived this year with only two choices; Congressperson for District 8 (perhaps the Bluest bit of California) and Senator. Two names were obvious; Nancy Pelosi and Dianne Feinstein. I immediately ticked the box for the first Female Speaker of the House of Representatives. Dianne was a different story. Her heavy handed rule of San Francisco as Mayor in the 1980s still rankles me to this day. She lost my vote this year when she gave a long speech of praise for Condoleeza Rice at the confirmation hearings for the new Secretary of State. Dianne’s election was 100% assured (no big name Republican was running) so I had no problem ticking the box for her Green Party opponent. Relax, we do this all the time.
While Republicans have painted Ms. Speaker Pelosi as a ‘San Francisco Democrat,’ there is a big disconnect between SF voters and our representatives in the foggy city by the bay. We are often as leftist as we are liberal and our blood flows Sierra Club Green. But once our elected officials arrive in Washington they take the centrist path perfected today by their sister and 2008 front-runner Senator Hillary Clinton. Not a word passes from their lips that has not been sanitized for mainstream ears at least twice by their alert aides. To find an actual SF Democrat in office you have to go across the bay to Berkeley/Oakland to Ron Dellums’ old district, currently occupied by the only representative to vote against the War in Afghanistan, the brave Barbara Lee. Still we San Franciscans are happy to have our big name women Democrats representing us as we hurry to Rainbow Grocery in our beat-up Volvos for another load of granola and tofu burger. ‘Think Globally, Act Locally’ reads the bumper sticker.
My old ballot used to have real races, supervisors and city propositions like Nuclear-free zones and free medical care at General Hospital. I gave it up when I was reminded I could be taxed in-state although the clerk at the Registrar of Voters in San Francisco City Hall shrugged when I asked about it the last time I was in town. When I came out of the office my wife, a first time visitor, breathlessly ran up to me to tell me that she had just witnessed a lesbian wedding in one of the ornate alcoves of the rotunda. We were staying with my good friend and political conscience Robert, whose home in the Bernal Heights provides me with my everlasting local address. A radical trade-union activist with Inland Boatmen’s Union, he never fails to remind me that many our party’s policies are often no different in practice from the Republicans we despise. I often find myself often agreeing with him. Many of our conversations take place on the sidewalk at some boisterous political demonstration or union picket line he has invited me to. Inevitably, the crowd will start chanting loud enough so that the bosses or officials behind the police lines can hear us -“THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!’
These are anxious days for us Democrats as the expectations for our new Speaker and Committee chairs is high. Like a toddler spilling food all over the table and floor Ms. Pelosi has been quite clumsy in her early days in almost-power. It’s 1993 all over again and we all remember Bill Clinton’s first awkward year in office. But the stakes are so much higher now and we don’t have a year to waste. One hundred days of action have been promised. We San Francisco Democrats have a new responsibility as it is our representative who is wielding the gavel. If Ms.Pelosi fails and betrays our trust she could swiftly be shamed by a left-wing challenger in a future Democratic primary for her seat. My Bernal Heights precinct, where I cast my vote in person in 2004, split 50-50 between John Kerry and (a true SF Democrat) Dennis Kucinich in the presidential warm-up vote. You go girl, but don’t forget us because we know where your office is downtown. Happy New Year.