Copyright by John T. Reed

Ron Dellums is the mayor of Oakland, CA. He previously was a Berkeley city councilman and he was a congressman from the Berkeley district for 27 years.

Like Obama, Dellums had little or no work experience other than being a legislator, which is a euphemism for someone who makes speeches and occasionally votes “yes” or “no” or abstains (also voting “present” in Obama’s case).

Like Obama, Dellums went from a lifetime of shooting his mouth off for a living to being the chief executive of a large organization. In Dellums’ case, Mayor of Oakland, CA; in Obama’s, president of the U.S.

One interesting difference is that Dellums already took office—back in 2007. He is now half-way through his four-year term.

Disaster

How’s he doing? He’s a disaster.

The San Francisco Chronicle has a black columnist named Chip Johnson. In his 1/16/09 column, he ripped Dellums, not for the first time. I mention Johnson’s race because it is the same as Dellums’ and Obama’s father. Here is the subhead of Johnson’s column:

Erratic absences from the office, lack of focus and organization have defined his performance.

I suspect that Dellums is not interested in actually doing the job of mayor of Oakland. He just wants to remain a big shot like he was in Congress.

I also suspect that Barack Obama has no interest in doing the job of being in charge of the executive branch of the federal government. He never bestirred himself to do any such thing previously in his life. He just wants to be the world’s biggest big shot. I predict his administration will be similar to Dellums because he is much like Dellums in many ways.

First evidence I was right: Obama was not interested in the contents of his “stimulus” bill. Governing bores him. He is only interested in receiving adulation from crowds. He turned writing the “stimulus” bill—the biggest spending bill in history—over to Pelosi and Reid. Reid stuck in a $2 billion magnetic levitation train from LA to Las Vegas (he represents NV—may I see a show of hands of those who believe $2 billion will be the final cost? Is this the same Las Vegas that Obama bad-mouthed bankers who were planning to attend a meeting there? Is it saving America’s crumbling roads and bridges?). Pelosi put in zillions for condoms. The contents of the bill have been an embarrassment to Obama. As we find out all that’s really in it for the first time, it will be a bigger embarrassment. But Obama was not interested in writing it so he can’t complain.

Obama promised that bills being considered would be on his White House Web site at least five days in advance and a whole lot of other changes—all forgotten. He only wants to be the president. He is not interested in doing the job of president. He has never shown any interest in actually working at any job in his life.

Johnson wrote about an independent report on Oakland City government that was just released. It said the city’s executive branch is a jumbled, dysfunctional mess. The Mayor is often AWOL. He communicates with city council and his department heads only rarely and erratically. Six offices have acting directors—two years into Dellums’ administration. Dellums filled important posts with political supporters. When one needs to be fired, Dellums can’t do it. It reminds him too much of “The Man” I suspect. Unfortunately for Oakland and the nation, firing incompetent or malevolent subordinates is one of the most important parts of any executive job.

Johnson says,

Whenever left to his own devices or to the mercy of current advisers, Dellums instinctively falls back in time to the political rhetoric of his heyday—in the mid-1960s.

Dellums has so far failed miserably at providing leadership of any kind since he took office...

Comparisons of the two:

Category	Dellums	Obama
military service	Marines	None
firsts	first African-American elected to Congress from Northern California	First African-American president
political view	the first openly Socialist Congressman since World War II	many leftist associations and avowed policies
first two years of college	Oakland City College, Oakland, CA	Occidental College, Pasadena, CA
second two years of college	San Francisco State University	Columbia College, New York, New York
advanced degree	Masters in Social Work, University of California, Berkeley, CA	J.D. in Law, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA
early work	“political activist in the African American community” Wikipedia	“community organizer” in African-American community
teaching	taught at San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley	taught at the University of Chicago Law School
drug use	An eight month investigation vindicated Dellums of allegations that he had used cocaine and marijuana, finding there was no basis for the allegations. The investigation of Dellums and two other congressmen began in 1983, based on a complaint from a House [of Representatives] doorkeeper.	admitted cocaine and marijuana use in autobiography

Both have a lot of black activism, and living, studying, and teaching in ultra left communities (New York City, Hyde Park, Cambridge, Berkeley) and universities (Columbia, Cal Berkeley, Harvard Law). Obama is the poster boy for affirmative action. Dellums is older and therefore pre-dates affirmative action nationwide, but he does not pre-date affirmative action where he ran for office, namely in Berkeley and Oakland.

In the 1960s, the civil rights movement was a noble and necessary effort to end legal segregation. But since then, for all of Obama’s life and most of Dellums’, black activism has been about imagined or ancient grievances and immoral “solutions” to those grievances like affirmative action. This is hardly good preparation for managing huge, complex government branches that serve citizens of all colors.

Most importantly, neither Dellums nor Obama ever had a real job of any sort for more than a year or two. When you’ve never had a real job, it is all but certain that you will screw up the first one. Indeed, the longer you go without a real job, the greater the probability that you have developed habits that are harmful to effective management of subordinates.

When you’re a hammer, you think every problem is a nail. When you are a permanent, career, political campaigner, you think every problem is a campaign rally.

Rhetoric an end in itself

On the contrary, they have spent their whole lives among those for whom rhetoric is an end in itself, not a means to an end: academics, activists, candidates, and legislators. It is no surprise that Dellums has no clue about how to run a government nor any experience or habits that would help him govern. It is no surprise that he thinks making campaign speeches, after he has taken office, is his only job. It will be no surprise if Obama, with a similar background and lack of executive experience, performs in the White House about the same as Dellums has in Oakland.

I appreciate informed, well-thought-out constructive criticism and suggestions. If there are any errors or omissions in my facts or logic, please tell me about them. If you are correct, I will fix the item in question. If you wish, I will give you credit. Where appropriate, I will apologize for the error. To date, I have been surprised at how few such corrections I have had to make.