Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums says Mayor's job can be done "anywhere"

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums

The San Francisco Chronicle's lead story in the newspaper edition has the not-good-SEO title, "Just before budget deadline, Dellums weighs in," and has Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums looking every bit like the leader he wants you to think he is.

One photo features Mayor Dellums giving a "you lookin' at me" stare at someone. Another photo has Mayor Dellums with his hands clasped together as if he's the all-knowing seer-in-charge.

All of that's great PR for Mayor Dellums, that is until he speaks: I'm the master strategist," Dellums said according to Matthai Kuruvila at SFGate.com. "My job is to establish strategy, to establish the policy framework within which those negotiations would take place. And I have assiduously and diligently and coherently done just that."

Really, that comments' OK. A mayor's supposed to be a cheerleader for his own actions. But then Dellums gets a little weird. "I have been briefed to the max. It would seem to me that to the most casual observer, that I'm totally in command of what it is we're trying to do. My job is to direct."

Visions of a statute of Mayor Dellums come to mind at this point, with Dellums right arm and extended index finger pointing the way.

That would seem to be enough, but then the Mayor goes off on an existential rant, saying "In the world of computers and the world of telephones and the world of faxes, you can do this job anywhere."

What's that? Let's look at the quote one more time:

"In the world of computers and the world of telephones and the world of faxes, you can do this job anywhere."

That means Mayor Ron Dellums can be outside of Oakland, in, say, Paris drinking coffee at an Internet cafe on the L'Avenue des Champs Elysées, and still run Oakland from his laptop. Right?

Let's take that example.

While drinking coffee Mayor Dellums gets a call from one of his aides that a child was killed by a stray bullet in Oakland. The cafe happens to have a World Cup game on in the background. The family of the boy would like Mayor Dellums to come and say a few words of support and bring life back to a neighborhood that needs a lift.

Mayor Dellums says "Uh. Ok. Uh. What should I do?" The aide suggests using USTREAM, a computer, and a projector to make a live stream of the Mayor issuing soothing remarks to the people at the church in Oakland. The Mayor says, "Good idea."

Within two hours, the system is set. The family thinks the Mayor's Office's idea is a little weird, but goes along with it. After all, at least the Mayor's doing something.

The Mayor starts by saying "Today, marks a dark day in Oakland," as he sits in sunny Paris, France. "One of Oakland's young was taken from us today. But we will not let his passing or the way it happened dampen our sprit! We will lift Oakland up in the name of this boy! We will...

Then someone in the background and in the cafe yells "GOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!!!"

I think you get the idea.

A Mayor has to be in their town to not just run it, but be there for the people of it. Oakland is not a city a Mayor can run effectively from Paris, France, or Mongolia for that matter. To be a good Mayor of Oakland, the person must be in Oakland and with its people as much as possible.

Mayor Dellums, the coffee in Oakland's just as good as the coffee in France.