| While the Statesman editorial board and writers have made some less than keen statements and pronouncements over time (twice endorsing George W. Bush being at the top of that list), today they must be writing in tune with the universe on two separate but equally "hell yeah" commentaries with regard to the Texas Governor's race.
The first is today's editorial entitled "Our Mysterious Senior Senator" which opens with this note of discord with one Kay Bailey Hutchison.
There's something about Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison we don't quite understand.
As we all know, Hutchison, one of your senators since 1993, now wants to be your governor. As we all also know, her current candidacy has been something of a magical mystery tour.
After walking us through Sen. Hutchison's indecision over resigning and noting her original pledge to only serve 2 terms in the U.S. Senate as she callously plays with the concept of service while she serves in her 3rd elected term, they close with the ongoing mystery.
As she asks voters for a new job, doesn't Hutchison have an obligation to tell us why she plans to walk away from her current one if she isn't nominated for the new one? In the schoolyard, the phrase sore loser might enter the conversation.
I suppose it is of some relief to see the Statesman editorial board just as befuddled as the rest of us as to Kay's logic. But let's move on to the other gubernatorial player of interest- Faurouk Shami, who received his own slicing by the respected Ken Herman.
He pens some commentary which echos the above interview. The entire piece is worth a read.
...I was surprised this week when Houston hair-care magnate Farouk Shami, a candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, offered this explanation for his apathy about voting:
"I didn't care about politics because I didn't think I could make a change. Minorities did not get involved in politics, and we always thought we could not make a difference. Now we have a president called Barack Hussein Obama at the White House. He is minority. He is black. So he opened the door for an average person like me to step up front and be ready to serve this state of Texas as the new governor," Shami said at an Austin campaign event.
The downtrodden minority/victim role is particularly unattractive on a guy who lives in a 24,585-square-foot-home like Shami does.
More from Shami: "I did not care about voting because career politicians, if you vote for one or the other, what did they do? They put us in distressed economy and in a bad economy. So I didn't care. Now it is time for each of us to step up to the responsibility and the duties of every citizen to vote for the right person for new blood for the state of Texas."
Does it sound like Shami's new zeal about voting could be inspired by the fact that he's running?
Herman goes on to point out Shami's lackluster voting record, absent of any Democratic primaries but including a Republican primary, and his scatterplot contribution history including current Republican statewide candidates, Ralph Nader, Kinky Friedman, Bill White, and others.
Shami - with his promise to spend $10 million of his own money - is going to continue to be an oddity in the gubernatorial race. As Democrats coalesce around White, Shami may not be the toast of the party. But he sure knows how to throw one.
His Farouk Systems held its 2006 annual conference in Jordan. The company Web site says in an "attempt to bring peace amongst the Middle East and Western civilizations" Shami gathered "4,000 hairdressers from over 70 different countries ... under the banner of bridging the world through wellness and peace!"
Four thousand hairdressers. The Middle East. Perhaps they went to the Red Sea to try to part it. (Sorry. But comedy deity Don Rickles is in town and maybe he'll read this.)
I think Herman is on to something which appears to be an emerging conventional viewpoint- there is no real reason that Democratic Primary voters or the media should be taking Shami's campaign that seriously. Would any of us be honestly spending as much ink as we have on his campaign had he not pledged $10 million to run his campaign and millions more to other institutions and organizations around Texas?
In short, Farouk Shami is a Felix Alvarado with a much bigger check that doesn't bounce.
Of course, I believe Shami is well intentioned, and relatively more genuine in his intent than either Kinky Friedman or Marc Katz. Running for Governor isn't going to help sell that many more CHI hair irons, and I believe that there is a value to re-investing in institutions that could have a positive impact in organizing and voter registration. The question is if these positive elements that help to empower minorities and political change in Texas can and maybe should occur without a Shami for Governor campaign attached to them. |
