Our recent Oakland mayor’s race made the national spotlight the other day when Politico, a centrist, very popular political digital publication, published a pretty accurate article on the tensions between moderate and radical factions of the Democratic Party, in which Oakland is at the center of the bullseye.
The article was correct to portray Barbara Lee as the progressive and Loren Taylor as the moderate. It was correct to say that Taylor “swung and missed” in his campaign, and it got things right when it said Lee’s campaign rested on allegations that Taylor was backed by “tech billionaires and corporate real estate and venture capitalists.” As Carroll Fife, a Lee crony, remarked, “These big-money people, they are here to stay.” She added—just in case there was any doubt--“They want to take your city from you, take your voice from you.”
In Oakland, the left hates billionaires. Of course, the influence of the unions—who collectively donate far more money to progressive candidates in Oakland than any billionaire ever has—is conveniently overlooked by Carroll Fife, whose political career wouldn’t exist without the buckets of cash dumped on her by SEIU and the IFPTE. (Both unions also resisted the Recall of Sheng Thao.)
Of course, that other pet of the unions, Nikki Bas, had to weigh in. She accused Taylor of “lean[ing] into the negatives” with a “doom-loop message” that stressed how broken Oakland is. Loren Taylor was 100% correct in his analysis; Oakland is broken. But Bas could never admit it, because her tenure—which was marked by ferocious attempts to defund the police—was in great measure responsible for Oakland’s decline.
Lee’s national exposure, and that of Carroll Fife and Nikki Bas, is not good news for Oakland’s reputation for crime, homelessness, and idiot politicians. It highlights why Oakland’s real estate values are plunging, why businesses don’t want to move here, why longtime residents and sports teams have left, why the word “Oakland” has become a synonym for Gotham City. People will read the Politico article, shudder, and pray that their city never succumbs to such catastrophes.
The Politico article didn’t dare to predict which side will win in Oakland: the far left or the moderates. I prefer to see it slightly differently: on the far left you have individuals completely obsessed with race, while in the moderate middle voters are sick of dividing us by race, of always hearing how tough Black people have it, and of being told it’s all their fault. We moderates understand that, if things are tough in the Black community, it’s not because of structural racism, or White supremacy, or the after-effects of slavery or Jim Crow, or lack of investment by taxpayer dollars, or any of the other lame excuses wokes always dish up. It’s due to an entrenched culture that prevents too many Black kids from getting a proper education and embracing American values of hard work and civic virtue. Black kids are no less intelligent than White or Asian kids, but there’s something going on in that community that is destructive, and until we can admit this and address it, nothing will change.
Steve Heimoff