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In heart of Bush country, a courageous challenge from Rocky

By ROBYN E. BLUMNER
Published September 10, 2006

President Bush is commemorating the fifth anniversary of 9/11 by reminding us of all we have to fear.

In his speech before the Military Officers Association of America, Bush spent about as much time quoting Osama bin Laden and other dangerous foes as speaking in his own words. The specter of enemies everywhere will help the Republicans in the midterm elections. It is truly the party for the scared.

On the other hand, the Democrats seem to be the party of the scared. Democrats in Congress, with a few notable exceptions, keep leaning right or hunkering down in the noncommittal middle so as not to be seen as helping the terrorists, or cutting and running, or channeling Neville Chamberlain, or appearing to be whatever absurd appellation the Republican slime machine has thought up. This defensive posture and their continued focus on Bush's agenda for the country rather than their own is not doing the Democrats any favors. The prospects for Democrats may be rising, but that is because Americans are running from Bush, not toward them.

With political courage in such short supply, my suggestion is that Democrats take a gander at what Rocky Anderson, the mayor of Salt Lake City, has been doing for the past six years. Here, in the reddest of red states, is a leader who acts out of conviction and who speaks powerfully for progressive causes, regardless of the political consequences.

I know Anderson and consider him a friend, but I would be writing this even if I didn't know him. Anderson, a 55-year-old former civil lawyer, has made national waves with his forthright condemnation of the Bush administration and his energetic approach to thinking globally and acting locally. What Anderson has brought to the Wasatch front is a form of bold and hopeful leadership that seems to takes its cue more from the West Wing's Jed Bartlet than from real-life Harry Reid.

Salt Lake City is a relatively progressive place compared to the rest of Utah. Even so, Anderson is not afraid to push buttons that mayors of far more liberal cities shy away from touching. Anderson's 2006 State of the City speech was marked by a special call for equal treatment for gays and lesbians. Anderson has made it clear that he supports same-sex marriage - not the tepid, unequal alternative of civil unions or domestic partnerships. In his speech, Anderson pointedly noted that gays and lesbians have been "consistently marginalized" due to "hateful prejudice, generated by a lack of acquaintance, understanding, and consequent fear." How many politicians would say it that straight?

In addition to being a civil rights advocate, Anderson is an avid environmentalist who is raising alarms about climate change. After Bush went back on his campaign promise to control carbon dioxide emissions, Anderson announced in early 2002 that Salt Lake City would commit to following the Kyoto Protocol and reduce greenhouse gases. Through energy conservation measures, the city now eliminates more than 22,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

He has also pushed initiatives for living wages and against sprawl.

But what makes Anderson so remarkable is his willingness to take on George Bush in a state where many conservative Mormons are still gaga over him. When Bush was in Salt Lake City last month, Anderson delivered a withering speech at an anti-Bush rally. It was an unleashing of a gestalt of grievances and a challenge to those who would stay silent before them.

In response to the hundreds of Republican-instigated phone calls Anderson received telling him that he should be a polite host to the president, Anderson retorted that "blind faith in bad leaders is not patriotism."

In the speech, Anderson masterly ticked off the lies the public has been fed by the Bush administration. He noted with irony that when Saddam Hussein actually had chemical weapons and used them on his own people, we "befriended, coddled and rewarded him - with government-guaranteed loans totaling $5-billion since 1983."

But the most powerful section of the speech was when Anderson demanded "No more." "No more gross incompetence in the office of the secretary of Defense. No more torture of human beings." There were 30 more "no mores," denouncing Bush's disastrous civil liberties and environmental record, tax cuts for the rich and even the "phony, ineffective, inhumane so-called war on drugs."

Talk about courage.

After 9/11, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was dubbed "America's Mayor" for his leadership during a challenging time. That torch should now go to a forward-thinker with his priorities straight who represents the best of this country, yet like no other, can articulate how we have been led to embrace the worst. Rocky Anderson is a leader for a responsible and hopeful tomorrow and a politician without the fear factor.

[Last modified September 9, 2006, 20:34:39]