Eugene and Michael McGee

Sometimes an attempt at of obfuscation through euphemism can be enlightening.

In today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Eugene Kane manages to kill 700 words or so in opposition to Alderman Michael McGee Jr.'s recall without acknowledging any of the reasons that someone would want to remove this guy from office. If I didn't know better, I presume that Kane does not believe that a politician who promotes a policy of "no snitching" in a community wracked by gang violence should be recalled. I'd surmise that he is not in the least bit troubled by the same alderman promoting gatherings of youth (under the misnomer of "cruising") after 2 am in the same community. I'd conclide that he doesn't care if the guy lies under oath, threatens women, uses slurs against persons he believes to be gay, fraudently obtains a second driver's license after the first is suspended, and on and on.

That would be his prerogative.

Or maybe Gene believes that McGee has extraordinary gifts and accomplishments that might warrant overlooking all of this. But it takes a little more heavy lifting than to dismiss his problems as being "nothing more" than becoming a "lightning rod." Kane doesn't quite capture the issue by describing McGee as a guy who is just "dynamic" and "bombastic" with a touch of "controversy" in his "personal" life. I would think that a defense of his record would require more than simply establishing that he is cerifiably "not convicted."

As I've said before (in opposition to many other local conservatives), I think Eugene Kane is a talented writer. He can definitely do better than this. My sense is that, if he really thought McGee "deserved" to remain in office, he would have.

I bet the problems here is not with what Mike McGee deserves, but with what, in Gene's view, ViAnna Jackson hasn't earned. His problem with the recall seem to be that it has not been blessed by the right people (black radio and newspapers) while it has been supported by the wrong ones (conservative talk radio).

I agree that the lack of the involvement of African-American leaders with efforts to rein in McGee is troubling. But the fault is not ViAnna Jackson's. Rather than worry about the interference of an "outsider," I think Kane would do better than consider why the insiders have kept quiet.