According to an article in this morning's Times (read it here), Doug Palmer was inspired by his trip to Africa with the Clintons.
The article's author, Andrew Kitchenman wrote, "While the trip was a vacation, Palmer plans to draw from it in his job."
Well isn't that special.
The man elected to run the City of Trenton vacationed with an ex-President of the United States, film and television actors Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen and a bunch of other Clinton hangers-on and he comes back invigorated to do more in the city. This almost makes sense.
Broken down to its most basic components:
1. Palmer traveled to some of the most poverty-stricken, under-developed, HIV ravaged areas of the world.
2. The host/guide (Bill Clinton) spoke with great pride of the tiny increments of progress over the past five years
I guess the experience validated Doug's total mis-management of the City's affairs.
Let's just hope he's not inspired to drag Trenton further down the socio-economic scale so that he can do even less and claim, with pride, there's been more progress.
4 comments:
I'm not letting western diplomats off the hook for the lack of progress in Africa; however, these do-gooders must contend with vile dictators and autocratic, greedy, violent, misguided political machines, and more, all of which gets in the way of positive change in Africa.
Doug Palmer, on the other hand, has almost total control here in Trenton. That he consistently chooses to attend conferences and "vacation" with the Clintons, instead of working for a better Trenton, is inexcusable.
Why is it that he had to travel all the way to Africa to realize that AIDS needs attention and why did it take this same trip for him to decide to reach out to Liberian immigrants in Trenton?
Wait, I though Trenton was contending with a vile dictator and a autocratic, misguided political machine. I'm confused...
Chrissy is, as usual, correct. There are leadershp issues holding back positive, progressing change in many African countries.
Doug is indeed the "vile dictator" who heads up an autocratic, greedy and misguided political machine.
Palmer didn't need to go to Africa to learn about AIDS or to discover a common ground with the local Liberian community. He is conveniently finding excuses for his trip abroad brown-nosing the Clintons and trying to secure a position that gives him more visibility than being alleged Mayor of Trenton.
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