Libby's first big test (San Francisco, Oakland: appointed, 2015, tornadoes)

[bay2bay]

How did she do?...

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf put to test by violent protest - SFGate

[ambient]

Crappy, but then again...it's Oakland. How can she do any better? Pretty much everyone all over the world knows and expects that the city is perpetually getting demolished by some group brain-damaged leftists. Barely raises an eyebrow anymore. If I haven't heard specifically in a month or two, I just naturally assume that a few rounds of storefront torchings have taken place over there in the meantime. Kinda like tornadoes in the Midwest.

[SocSciProf]

Originally Posted by ambient

Crappy, but then again...it's Oakland. How can she do any better? People know pretty much all over the world know by now that the city always gets demolished by some brain-damaged leftists every other month. It's to be expected.

Now I've seen it all! I guess it's official. Libby gets the "White woman whitewash" while Jean Quan had no such resource. NOW we see why so many around here are so happy that Libby is in office, indeed, anyone but Quan (or some other person of color). Even if we can find no difference in policy or implementation on such a make-or-break issue as riot response, no matter, its alllllllll good. Libby's in the house, all's RIGHT WITH THE WORLD!

Sickening.

[ambient]

Originally Posted by SocSciProf

Now I've seen it all! I guess it's official. Libby gets the "White woman whitewash" while Jean Quan had no such resource. NOW we see why so many around here is so happy that Libby's in office, indeed, anyone but Quan (or some other person of color). Even if we can find no difference in policy or implementation on such a make-or-break issue as riot response, no matter, its alllllllll good. Libby's in the house, all's RIGHT WITH THE WORLD!

Sickening.

I guess you like to project your racism witch hunts on other people's comments irrespective of whether or not it makes any sense. :-) I already started off by saying that she did crappy, so how was that an endorsement?

I don't care what her skin color is (although sounds like you do). My point was that she can't do any better because NO ONE can do any better because it's Oakland where they have more militant leftist nutters per square mile than damn near any other place on earth. It doesn't matter if the mayor is black, white, asian, or half unicorn; the stores are still gonna get torched.

That was my point, and that's what should be sickening to people; instead they do like you and fixate on some race straw man. I guess that's why the city will keep getting demolished every other month or so into perpetuity. :-) It's actually kind of amusing by now.

[SocSciProf]

Originally Posted by ambient

I guess you like to project your racism witch hunts on other people's comments irrespective of whether or not it makes any sense. :-) I already started off by saying that she did crappy, so how was that an endorsement?

I don't care what her skin color is (although sounds like you do). My point was that she can't do any better because NO ONE can do any better because it's Oakland where they have more militant leftist nutters per square mile than damn near any other place on earth. It doesn't matter if the mayor is black, white, asian, or half unicorn; the stores are still gonna get torched.

That was my point, and that's what should be sickening to people; instead they do like you and fixate on some race straw man. I guess that's why the city will keep getting demolished every other month or so into perpetuity. :-) It's actually kind of amusing by now.

I don't care about the mayor's race. I do care that when Jean Quan was mayor, I don't recall you saying:

Crappy, but then again...it's Oakland. How can she do any better? People know pretty much all over the world know by now that the city always gets demolished by some brain-damaged leftists every other month. It's to be expected.

If you said that, please inform me, and I'll apologize . . . to YOU. But, it is clear that people did not give Jean Quan the benefit of the doubt, and your words do seem to be giving Libby Schaaf an excuse for failure. As I want mayor's to succeed, as I want a mayor to stop street thugs, anarchists, and hooligans, while supporting pro-community policies, I couldn't care less the mayor's race. But, I believe whatever standards are used to judge one mayor (who was ousted) should be used the judge the next. Seems most around here don't agree.

Frankly, I'd looovvvve to learn I am wrong. We have enough division as it is. So, let's see if I'm wrong, let's see if people here seriously, vehemently, and without excuses criticize Libby for her disastrous response to the May 1, 2015 riot, and make it clear she'd better fix this immediately. Come on, let's see.

[ambient]

Originally Posted by SocSciProf

I don't care about the mayor's race. I do care that when Jean Quan was mayor, I don't recall you saying:



If you said that, please inform me, and I'll apologize . . . to YOU. But, it is clear that people did not give Jean Quan the benefit of the doubt, and your words do seem to be giving Libby Schaaf an excuse for failure. As I want mayor's to succeed, as I want a mayor to stop street thugs, anarchists, and hooligans, while supporting pro-community policies, I couldn't care less the mayor's race. But, I believe whatever standards are used to judge one mayor (who was ousted) should be used the judge the next. Seems most around here don't agree.

Frankly, I'd looovvvve to learn I am wrong. We have enough division as it is. So, let's see if I'm wrong, let's see if people here seriously, vehemently, and without excuses criticize Libby for her disastrous response to the May 1, 2015 riot, and make it clear she'd better fix this immediately. Come on, let's see.

I am very sorry but I didn't make a similar post back when Quan was around because frankly I lead a busy life, and if I took the time to comment every time Oakland gets ransacked by lunatics, I would get nothing else done.

For the record, here it is:

Quan was a leftist dingbat. So is Libby. So is probably nearly everyone in Oakland's administration, which is probably why the place has been ransacked more times by now than all the Mongol invasions of Europe combined. Until authorities find a way to get downright brutal with the invaders and make them do really hard prison time, which is probably unlikely, things will probably continue in Oakland much as they are today.

[SocSciProf]

Originally Posted by ambient

I am very sorry but I didn't make a similar post back when Quan was around because frankly I lead a busy life, and if I took the time to comment every time Oakland gets ransacked by lunatics, I would get nothing else done.

For the record, here it is:

Quan was a leftist dingbat. So is Libby. So is probably nearly everyone in Oakland's administration, which is probably why the place has been ransacked more times by now than all the Mongol invasions of Europe combined. Until authorities find a way to get downright brutal with the invaders and make them do really hard prison time, which is probably unlikely, things will probably continue in Oakland much as they are today.

So, please accept my apology. Now, let's see if others make excuses for Libby they did not make for Jean, or claim Schaaf did a good job when the rioting was about the same under Libby as it was under Quan. I hope everyone else is as critical of Schaaf as they were of Quan, as you seem to have been. We'll see.

[bay2bay]

Personally, I liked Jean Quan. I had planned on voting for her until the almost nightly vandalism that occurred in Oakland after the whole affair in Ferguson. San Francisco had protests as well; but, they had their police move in quickly at the first sign of vandalism and quickly squashed that type of activity. Meanwhile, Oakland appeared clueless on what to do. With ranked voting, I voted for Courtney Ruby and Joe Tuman along with Libby Schaaf as I thought they would be the ones who would be toughest on vandals. I'm quite disappointed with Libby at this point in time. She's off to a bad start.

[Oakformonday]

Originally Posted by SocSciProf

So, please accept my apology. Now, let's see if others make excuses for Libby they did not make for Jean, or claim Schaaf did a good job when the rioting was about the same under Libby as it was under Quan. I hope everyone else is as critical of Schaaf as they were of Quan, as you seem to have been. We'll see.

I'm not sure why you are concentrating how people critique Schaaf compared to Quan. That is another discussion. This one is about Schaaf and how she handled this latest riot. I don't see anyone giving her a pass b/c she is White. That's crazy. Look up the demographics of Oakland. If you want to find it - you will...

[SocSciProf]

Originally Posted by Oakformonday

I'm not sure why you are concentrating how people critique Schaaf compared to Quan. That is another discussion. This one is about Schaaf and how she handled this latest riot. I don't see anyone giving her a pass b/c she is White. That's crazy. Look up the demographics of Oakland. If you want to find it - you will...

(Parenthetically, we all grow up in society. Thus, being from group X doesn't mean you can't be prejudiced against members of group X.)

One, no one says out loud, "Schaaf is white, Quan is not, so I'm going to support Schaaf doing things I would have protested Quan doing." People are too sophisticated to say such a thing.

Two, most people commenting on the SF/Oakland forum are not racist in the old-style of "Person X is Race Y, so I believe Z."

The racism--if it exists--is much more subtle, and perhaps not even conscious. There's a comfort with Libby. There's an assumption that Libby is competent. Jean Quan entered office amid people denying the legitimacy of her electoral victory, claiming it was unfair, and as soon as she stumbled in office she was attacked in horribly disrespectful language. It went far beyond differences in policy positions. Libby makes the same mistakes--after having watched Quan make them and stumble, and, while almost everyone in the region expected violence in Oakland, claims to have been surprised. Yet people are not hopping on here to tear her to shreds, nor even to directly say, "This cannot continue!"

In this kind of racism (or sexism, or what have you), people assume the person from the disrespected group lacks competence. At the same time, any mistake by someone in the respected group is explained away or perhaps not even noticed.

It is this dynamic that means that any people who want to evaluate Libby Schaaf's handling of the riot have to be asked their views about Jean Quan's handling of similar situations. If people have different views of the two mayors, one has to explain the difference somehow. Given the similarity in conditions, policies, and outcomes, what else besides racial dynamics and public comfort with and expectations that whites will be in positions of authority explains it?

I will note that if Quan had been mayor and this happened, we'd be up to 25 posts, minimum, by now tearing her and the city apart. With Libby, people can't defend her (at least, not after the first page discussion of what a defense of her means for racial dynamics and their position in those dynamics), so they've decided to stay silent. Silence, however, is just another commentary that, alas, proves my fears. People are comfortable with Libby, probably because she "looks" more mayoral (if you know what I mean), and because of that they are reluctant to criticize her. Of course, this means they are holding her to a lower standard. From where I sit, holding leaders to lower standards is not the way to solve the problems of Oakland or anywhere else.