Brizard Means Business

Rochester City School District Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard announced a new plan to improve graduation rates in City schools from 39% to 75%.

"So what"?, you say. Well, unlike previous City School's chiefs, Brizard did not deal in platitudes, instead, he announced concrete plans which actually put some pressure on school administrators to take action and, most importantly, called for and described a mechanism through which parent involvement would be key.

Obviously, its too early to tell how this will go, but its clear that Brizard is not content with the same old excuses.

Here's wishing him success.

Oh How The Mighty Have Fallen

Tom Reynolds announced today he would not seek re-election to Congress. Only two years ago, Reynolds was one of the most powerful men in Washington, in his capacity as head of the NRCC, and he was on the short list for future House Speaker. Today, he's an endangered incumbent, who, having hung on to his seat last time just by a thread, decided to go quietly into the night. This leaves Randy Kuhl as the only Upstate GOP incumbent seeking re-election. It is more evidence that New York's transition to a "deep blue" state is accelerating.

State Sen. George Maziarz has been mentioned as a likely successor. George is a great guy, and he'd make a great Congressman, but I wonder if he would (or should) give up a fairly safe GOP State Senate seat, to swim against the Democratic tide. If things went badly, both seats could be lost.

Frankly, this is a real loss for Western New York. Tom Reynolds was a real force who "brought home the bacon" for his constituents. His efforts as "dean" of the Western NY Congressional contingent are something that certain "would-be" leaders (e.g., Louise Slaughter and David Gantt) would be well advised to emulate.

Obama Gets Religion (A Little Late?)

Barack Obama spent the past two days distancing himself from Jeremiah Wright, his pastor of 20 years, whose "God Damn America" sermons have begun to embarrass the candidate.

I've been wondering why those racist and anti-American remarks and sermons did not bother the Senator until he became a presidential candidate. Why is it that he remained a member of the congregation and a close friend of Wright (Obama considers him "family") if he categorically rejects and repudiates those views? Richard Cohen of the Washington Post asked the same questions in this column about Obama and his recent recanting on Wright.

Sen. Obama has been very lucky that most of the media is very easy on him. The hounds would have been on Hillary or McCain in similar circumstances.

Hanson Skewers Obama

The always eloquent and incisive Victor Davis Hanson gets right to the heart of things in this thorough deconstruction of Barack Obama and his views on America.

Take the time to read it. Hanson has Obama's number. We should all worry if Obama should attain the presidency.

A Breath Of Fresh Air

What a difference a week makes!

Last week, we all watched the erstwhile "Steamroller" come to a crashing halt against the immovable object of his blinding arrogance. This week we heard from our new Governor who took office with a speech that displayed intelligence, humor, and an apparent honest desire to reach across the aisle to get things done.

I know that political honeymoons are usually short. I also know that David Paterson is a very liberal guy and that I will often disagree with him. Still, you have to love a guy who, in response to an invitation to dinner from GOP leader (and next in line for succession) Joe Bruno, says "I'll go, but I'll bring my taster along".

Spitzer Stuns New York

The scandal engulfing NY Governor Eliot Spitzer has a number of facets that have left most New Yorkers stunned and disappointed.

First, many, like yours truly, cannot believe that the Governor thought he could get away with such conduct. As a prosecutor, who famously broke up a prostitution ring, he had to be aware of the methodology used to track such crimes. He could not have rationally expected to evade discovery. As such, you have to ascribe his behavior to colossal arrogance, an irresistible addiction or a subconscious wish to self-destruct.

Meanwhile, many on Wall Street who faced his wrath as Attorney General, celebrated Spitzer's shame. They and many other critics are looking forward to his resignation. They should be careful what they wish for. Lt. Governor David Patterson is far more liberal than Spitzer. His agenda may be even more challenging to conservative business interests in New York.

Finally, there is the sad reality that Spitzer failed his family, his friends and his supporters across the State. I did not support Mr. Spitzer, but like many New Yorkers, I hoped that his apparent determination to change the state on "day one" was genuine. Our state government is clearly dysfunctional and he seemed to offer a real chance for reform. That hope was badly harmed by Troopergate. This scandal has buried any hope for change in the state.

Springsteen ... Still The Boss

I attended last night's concert by Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band at the Blue Cross Arena.

My wife, Paula, is a big Springsteen fan. I'm indifferent, but when I heard he was coming to Rochester, I wangled a couple of tickets from a friend as a Christmas present for her. I went to the concert with only moderate enthusiasm, but I left with a wholly different impression. Bruce is quite a performer. He and the E-Street Band put on a fabulous show.

It was clear that Springsteen and his band-mates were enjoying themselves. The crowd was older than a typical concert gathering; clearly there were a large number of true fans in attendance and they ate it up. The performers and the crowd fed off of each other. By the end of the show, even I was on my feet whooping it up to Born to Run.

I was somewhat surprised that Springsteen would play Rochester. The BCA only holds about 10,000 for a concert; that's much smaller than most of the places Bruce plays. But it may have been the smaller setting that increased the entertainment value. We all felt like he was really playing to us. He was fairly close even from the far corners of the arena and the two video screens displayed close-ups that really allowed us to see the enthusiasm and enjoyment on the performer's faces.

Bruce appeared to like the building and the crowd. At one point, he asked if it was a new building or an old one. The crowd roared "OLD". Bruce said "Yeah, the old ones are usually the best ones". Score one for the War Memorial!

Bruce made a few brief political points. He's a liberal, but I knew that. It was easy to forgive his politics in light of the fantastic performance he put on. I have to say he is a great performer. No one in the crowd would disagree.

Alter In The Tank For Obama

Newsweek columnist Johnathan Alter is one of the many liberal writers I love to hate. Despite his liberal views, his insights are usually worth reading. After reading Mr. Alter's last two internet pieces, however, I have to wonder if he's now on the Obama campaign payroll.

He wrote two columns this week indicating that the delegate numbers simply don't work for Mrs. Clinton, even if you give her the benefit of the doubt regarding winning many of the remaining primaries. The second of the columns was written as though he was an attorney trying a case in a courtroom. He is clearly trying to argue that Hillary should drop out of the race since she can't win and her staying in will only hurt the Democrats.

His argument is not very persuasive. The only reason that Mr. Obama has a lead in the delegate count is due to the "democratic" proportional distribution of delegates that the Democrat party favors (oh, they are so fair and progressive). This ignores the fact that Mrs. Clinton has won elections in far bigger states, with many more electoral votes. Electoral votes, which will, of course, be distributed in the un-democratic "winner-take-all" mode.

Moreover, Hillary has won in states which will be the battlegrounds in the general election, such as Ohio and Florida (I know, I know, Florida doesn't count). (Yeah, sure). If she takes Pennsylvania, too, it seems hard to understand why Obama should be the favorite.

Alter claimed to have spoken with a number of superdelegates who told him that "there's [no]chance they would reverse the will of Democratic voters", meaning that if Obama has more committed delegates they (the superdelegates) could not vote for Clinton. If Mrs. Clinton beats Mr. Obama badly in Pennsylvania, Mr. Alter better poll those superdelegates again; I think he'll find that their perception of "the will of the voters" may change.

Just for what its worth, I am voting for McCain no matter who wins the Democrat nomination. Its just fun watching how deep in the tank for Obama some of these liberal media types are. The truth is that Obama is their favorite because he is a true liberal, like them. They really don't trust Hillary, so they've turned on her.