I don’t mean to pick on Barbara Lee, I really don’t, but she keeps saying dumb stuff, and it needs to be pointed out. This time it was in a profile in the Oakland Tribune. Lee was patting herself on the back for her “accomplishments” in her first hundred days in office. Since she’s done nothing of substance, all she had was clichés. I’m okay with politicians uttering clichés—they all do it. But what Barbara Lee says isn’t just dumb and false, it’s dangerous.
Here’s a sample of her stuff. She begins with “Transparency from me is very important.” The T-word has become all the rage now, but tell me this: Do you have any idea what Lee is doing, or any of her departments or top appointees? Do you know what goes on behind the closed doors of all those “secret sessions” of the City Council or the Police Commission? Do you know what the unions are demanding of Lee, or what she’s promising them? Of course you don’t. No one does. The Lee regime is about as transparent as North Korea.
Lee saves the majority of her statement for Donald Trump, whom she vows to resist if he tries to send troops to Oakland (which I don’t think he’s going to do). This is a very easy soapbox for Lee to crawl up on and pontificate. She knows that everybody in Oakland hates Trump, so she can pontificate until she’s hoarse and get applause for it.
Then there’s Lee’s alleged quest for unity in our divided city. “Lee cited her bachelor’s degree in psychology in describing herself as a listener.” That’s a howler. I too took psychology as an undergraduate, at about the same time as Lee, the 1960s, and believe me, “listening” wasn’t part of the curriculum. It was all behaviorism: they studied animal behavior. Psychology was, and is, one of those social sciences that’s been discredited for being woke. You take psychology in college because you know it’s an undemanding major.
Speaking of “listening,” Lee then went on to insult us, the loyal opposition who recalled Thao and supported any candidate but Lee for Mayor. “I have no time for that, I really don’t,” she said of us. So much for listening. If Barbara Lee were serious, she’s be listening to everyone who voted against her. But B.Lee isn’t serious.
But Lee saved her best—which is to say, her dumbest and most scurrilous comment—for last. Asked if she thinks Oakland could become like Brooklyn—one of the most vigorous, creative and livable boroughs in New York City—Lee gave away her real attitude about Oakland by saying, “Brooklyn? Do you know the gentrification that’s happened there?” As I’ve pointed out before, for Lee and her wokes the word “gentrification” is a four-letter epithet. What she’s really saying is that she wants Oakland to go downward, to being a slum. That’s Lee’s grand vision: a place of cheap rents, decaying buildings, dilapidated infrastructure and garbage everywhere, where rents will be the lowest in the Bay Area so that the unemployed can afford to live here and homeless people will feel comfortable. When you hear Lee decry “gentrification” you should understand that she’s against everything that every other city wants to happen: development, with its huge tax base that can support a thriving downtown, an active arts community, civic engagement of its citizens, revitalized architecture, and happy, productive people not afraid of going outside at night and having happy restaurants and bars to go to. That’s what we all want, if I’m not mistaken, but not B.Lee.
And with that, let me wish you a safe and enjoyable weekend!
Steve Heimoff