I never thought I'd say this, but Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is a visionary. He's carved out a new niche for himself and others to surely follow him within American politics and combined it with America's obsession for reality-based entertainment.
America's Most Shameless Victim. Catchy, huh? Is that the phone ringing? I'll bet it's representatives from FOX -- I want royalties. Even Kilpatrick's former lawyer, James Parkman III, hinted we could see the proceedings at Comerica Park or Ford Field.
The thought struck me today as I looked at Kilpatrick, the man never at a loss for words, never to miss an opportunity to spin everyone's venom and disgust at his behavior as 'them against me', standing mute as he was arraigned on felony assault and obstruction charges today. Today, for maybe the first time ever, it was a judge obligated by constitutional law and not Kilpatrick's free will responsible for the "not guilty" plea on Kilpatrick's behalf. The brightest star to come out of Detroit since Chris Webber, Kilpatrick is the law school grad, the accomplished lawyer, legislator and elected politician who cannot even speak on his own behalf any longer.
So I pose this question: Why is it never Kwame Kilpatrick's fault? To believe Kilpatrick is to believe everyone is out to get him. The term everyone encapsulates a lot of people. It includes the residents of the city, the police and firefighters he empowers, the millions of suburbanites that surround him and the ultimate bad man, that damned media! Kilpatrick's math means more than six million people are against just one man. That's all the people in Lincoln Park and Garden City, from Grosse Pointe to Gibralter. Royal Oak, Rochester and Romeo, too. Woodhaven, Warren and Wixom to boot, plus a couple hundred other communities I omitted from that list.
Now I'll be the first to admit I'm not the most popular referee in town, but even I don't have six million people trying to run me out of town. Hell, even my wife isn't trying to get rid of me right now...but be patient and give it time.
To believe Kilpatrick is to believe while so many Detroiters are scuffling to keep their houses, jobs and food on the plate of their family's table, they also find the time to participate in 'Get Kwame'. When asked to respond nearly a year ago, Kilpatrick said 'everyone is out to get me!' When that didn't work, Kilpatrick said, 'it's racism!' When it wasn't that, it's was the media's fault. Of late the rally has been 'this is all political!'
Yet when the text messages, testimony and truth said otherwise, Kilpatrick hired 15-20 of the priciest lawyers he could find and paid them to say 'it wasn't our client, Your Honor, honest'. What's the old joke about what happens when a lawyer says he's being honest?
If it wasn't Kilpatrick and Christine Beatty talking about sexual trysts, ruining the lives of honest police officers and hiding facts from the people they report to, who was it? If he did no wrong, saw no wrong and spoke no wrong, why does he need an army of lawyers to say it for him?
Maybe now we know why Kilpatrick no longer has anything to say in his own defense. It's the non-response that speaks loud and clear today.
Comments