Illtown Mayor Debate Lacking

The recent Philadelphia Mayoral debate was the battle royale of political debates, reminiscent of that old school, no-holds-barred, scrappy, beat down of townhall gatherings.  Where the candidates have at it and no one moderates audience response out of fear for call-&-response instigation.  Watching this debate, outsiders and those unfamiliar with Philly life would naturally wonder if this was the reason why Independence City is now one of the most violent in the nation.  Not at all – Philadelphians just tell it like it is with no promise of holding back.  Philly likes to keep it real and, most of all, they like to keep their politics real.  Sure, City Hall is rife with “pay-to-play” public policy, but at least Illtown residents admit to that sour fact of Brotherly Love life. 

Seriously though, this recent debate was symptomatic of something much darker than Illtown’s infamous cynicism.  It suffered from lack of ideas or an unwillingness to innovate.  It was policy stuck in time, so much so that the candidates resorted to petty references and blatant insults almost leading to physical brushes.  Not the kind of image you want for a town trying to manage an economic comeback in the midst of a horrific homicide wave. 

Congressman Chaka Fattah’s overly-Blacker-than-thou, over the top and, ultimately, trifling attacks on Councilman Michael Nutter reflected a man losing his cool when his entire reputation is staked on cool. But it also displayed Fattah’s nervousness about his 3rd place polling numbers, a crashing realization that his destiny may not be realized after a lifetime of public service – and that he may, after all that, have to go back to Congress and actually work.   Most of Philly’s unemployed would risk life and limb for a $165,000 annual salary to simply co-sponsor bills, huddle with Caucus buddies and ride the Hill subway in that mad dash to vote each day.  Yet, Fattah indicates that he’s bored with Hill life and ready to move on to that great grey building at Broad and Market where the skateboarders scratch the marble in a subtly anarchistic mooning of corrupt City Hall culture.   There is arrogance detected in that boredom, a politician implying that his political map is laid out and that he is not only Philly’s Favorite Son, but Philly’s Next Son who is destined to inherit it all.

That is proving problematic for Fattah, once a front-runner now trailing. 

The larger problem is that everyone on that stage debating has risen in a system they each pledge to reform.  They are products of the machine discussing how they are the best candidate to tear it down.  That will be pretty tough considering the machine brought each candidate to that point yesterday evening.