St. Louis City Politics - Change I Can't Believe In

Can someone tell me is it me or my imagination that there once was visceral dislike of the policies and governance of Mayor Francis Slay? Am I off base by thinking there was this strong recall movement, and a desire of many in North St. Louis to seek change at 1200 Market? Or was that change “not to be believed in”? Am I just too caught up in Obamania that what I see as a strong movement to replace Mayor Slay is just a hologram? It's December folks, the filing deadline is weeks away, and the best opposition so far is Irene Smith. The line coined by Shakespeare in Julius Caesar, “ambition must be made of sterner stuff than that” rings loud – and true. Traversing through the CWE I see the Slay signs already up. Now I know this is St. Louis, part of a state that absolutely refused to turn blue – no thanks to the “great” voter turnout, more about that later – and whose black leadership often has history of looking like a circular firing squad. And I realize the black leadership often split, often manipulated, and often toothless still plod along with 20th century approaches to politics. But does not the manner in which Barack Obama won White House, by effective use of the internet, prodigious fund raising, and finding the best and the brightest to manage his campaign, serve as a winning template?
So on December 20, 2008 can someone tell me why the same folks who were expending energy on a re-call effort, now limp along when it comes to an actual election? A few years ago, I remember asking one of the leaders “well if you recall Mayor Slay” who you gonna get to run? That person looked at me squarely and smugly and said “me” Well it’s “me time” but the most resounding sound from those folks now is silence. Humm.

This summer I volunteered for the Obama Campaign for Change, and on the day after Obama’s acceptance speech in Denver, I drove an Obama Field Organizer around one of their assigned wards to give them the lay of the land. I have a feeling my action that afternoon was far more than the Alderman or Committee people did for that organizer – all summer. But we canvassed; we made phone calls; our efforts were inspired. Asians, college students, whites of many ages knocking on doors throughout North St Louis in hopes of delivering change. The recruitment of volunteers was consistently a tough task, yet noticeable by their absence and impact, were the ward organizations. The field organizer would ask me the existing ground game, and I would say, less than a month ago folks were knocking at my door on behalf of the committepeople, now two weeks later, they can’t produce anyone to do something as prosaic as data entry. Interesting. Thus the North City voter turnout numbers produced last month in the St. Louis American was telling. And yes I would invite readers, as did the American to make whatever connections they deem necessary in ward turnout, and the effectiveness and/or agenda of the Alderman in those wards.

I agree with the lead editorial in last week’s American, which asked where is the leadership that will bring about a real challenge to the Slay Administration. What troubles me is the lack of a political insfrastrure needed to unseat an unpopular Mayor, and an utter lack of message. I remember the great riff that then Senator Obama said about John McCain, saying that the McCain team was running out of ideas, out of issues and out time. One can easily apply that line to that once engaged anti Slay movement. It appears that what is afoot is a campaign built solely around anti Slay sentiment, but not about bringing change and reform. That mentality is an insult, and is demeaning. St. Louis needs a candidate to address issues like the broken Public School System, mismanagement in the Police Department, and a crumbling infrastructure. In addition there needs to be reform in city development which currently allows Alderman total control over block grant funds which have too often have lead to incomplete and sometimes disconnected development projects.
Working for the campaign for change, was a once in a lifetime experience, seeing effective, sober, disciplined grassroots politics that worked, and yes it was a reflection of the man at the top Barack Obama. When I contrast that to the politics of North St Louis, the contrast between the politics and the political leadership in this city is downright shaming.