{"id":187762,"date":"2026-05-09T03:39:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T03:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/187762\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T03:39:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T03:39:12","slug":"welcome-to-pander-delphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/187762\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome To Pander-Delphia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mario Cuomo, the late, great governor of New York, once famously observed that \u201cYou campaign in poetry, but you govern in prose.\u201d More recently, our own retiring Congressman Dwight Evans \u2014 whose seat is currently being vied for<\/a> \u2014 has advertised himself as belonging to (an ever-dwindling?) \u201cgoverning wing of the Democratic Party.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Listen to the audio edition here:<\/p>\n

Given the state of current local political discourse, both perspectives would require revision today, because hardly anyone seems to care about governing anymore. Nationally, we crossed this Rubicon long ago. Politics has become a cynical game of grandstanding, of playing to the base \u2014 the common good be damned. Now local politics, once the last bastion of pragmatism, seems to be swinging in that direction, too.<\/p>\n

I first started ruminating on this new type of trickle-down last fall, when State Senator Malcolm Kenyatta trekked on foot from Philly to Harrisburg<\/a> to protest proposed SEPTA cuts. He chronicled the stunt on social media the entire way, culminating in a press event outside the statehouse \u2014 also known as the very building where he works. He was playing pundit, in other words, essentially protesting himself.<\/p>\n

Kenyatta is a likeable fellow with a compelling personal story, but his act for the digital audience drew me to inspect his actual legislative record,<\/a> which largely consists of speaking to the already converted; bills co-sponsored include the Protection of Minors From Conversion Therapy Act; the Let Us Pray in Peace Act (protecting houses of worship from ICE), and the Protect Pennsylvania\u2019s Academic Freedom Act (prohibiting colleges or universities that take state money from entering into compacts with the Trump administration).<\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing inherently wrong with Kenyatta\u2019s priorities. But what\u2019s striking is the absence of any serious effort to persuade those who might not start out already sharing his values. It\u2019s another example of the rise of echo-chamber politics \u2014 even as polls show that independents are the nation\u2019s fastest growing voting bloc and that a plurality of Democrats \u201chold middle-of-the-road views across many of the most contentious issues in national politics, including immigration, crime, transgender policy, and DEI,<\/a>\u201c according to the conservative think tank the Manhattan Institute.<\/p>\n

Welcome to the age of pander politics, where performative gestures matter more than delivering real results for a cross-section of constituents. Who needs to problem-solve when you can rack up likes on social media and hits on local TV news by scoring cheap political points?<\/p>\n

Consider the examples of late. There\u2019s our aforementioned congressional race \u2014 where you\u2019d be forgiven for concluding that the office being sought sits somewhere in Gaza; City Council\u2019s embarrassing spectacle before the Philadelphia School Board over its facilities plan, and Council\u2019s anti-ICE legislation. In all three cases, leaders like Cuomo and Evans \u2014 who sought consensus and treated others with respect \u2014 would barely recognize the conduct of today\u2019s officeholders, who seem to become more like Trump even as they deride him daily.<\/p>\n

Gaza comes to Philly <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the desultory congressional race. Progressive State Representative Chris Rabb, whose performative legislative record<\/a> makes Kenyatta\u2019s seem downright centrist, has been endorsed by The Inquirer even as he has injected accusations<\/a> into the campaign against Dr. Ala Stanford, insinuating she is beholden to Israeli lobby money \u2014 flirting with old blood libels of Jewish influence.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s keep this real: Chris Rabb and others who have labeled Stanford \u201cAIPAC Ala\u201d don\u2019t really think she would be disloyal to American interests if elected. (The connection is tenuous, by the way; AIPAC, the Israeli lobby, has supported the pro-science Super PAC that is funding Stanford TV commercials, though it has also funded candidates who run against the very same Super PAC, as in Illinois\u2019 9th Congressional District race.)<\/p>\n

Really? We\u2019re to believe that a physician candidate backed by a pro-physician PAC \u2014 and supported by Evans and former Mayor Michael Nutter \u2014 is not so secretly an agent of Israel? Beyond its cynicism, that\u2019s classic Trump-style politics: question motives instead of debating ideas.<\/p>\n

Welcome to the age of pander politics, where performative gestures matter more than delivering real results for a cross-section of constituents.<\/p>\n

The real question for Rabb, Stanford and State Senator Sharif Street (a Muslim who hasn\u2019t himself followed Rabb\u2019s divisive lead) ought to be: What solutions do you have for what ails the city, and what in your record suggests you can get them passed? On that front, the campaign has been notably devoid of new ideas. Get ready for progressive heads to explode: If the central challenge facing Democrats is to win back White and Black working class voters, most of the ideas these last few years designed to do that have come from the other side.<\/p>\n

Yes, he\u2019s odious and a threat to democracy, but give the orange devil his due: Trump has brilliantly appropriated policies that were once the province of Democrats. His Trump Accounts,<\/a> (essentially highjacking the baby bonds policy long pushed by Senator Cory Booker); his no taxes on tips<\/a>; his dollar-for-dollar school choice tax credit;<\/a> his TrumpRx prescription drug discount website<\/a>; his recent executive order broadening access to retirement savings for workers<\/a> \u2014 taken together, even if incompetently implemented, they say to what was once the Democratic base: I\u2019m with you. Moreover, they represent new and innovative ideas. Have you heard anything new from our congressional candidates?<\/p>\n

Instead, we\u2019ve gotten superficial debate over use of the word \u201cgenocide,\u201d familiar talking points about redistribution, and broad agreement that ICE needs to be abolished. (As if the agency, rather than a lawless administration, is the problem.) The closest thing to a genuinely interesting proposal came when Stanford casually mused about limiting the power of ward leaders. That would represent actual political reform \u2014 but reform has gone out of fashion now that divisive national politics has cascaded downward into local life.<\/p>\n

Council declares war \u2026 on the School Board <\/p>\n

Once upon a time, elected officials proposed solutions to problems, and you \u2014 the voter \u2014 said yea or nay to such ideas at the ballot box. How quaint. Recently, we witnessed the new paradigm, when members of City Council publicly berated and threatened the volunteer members of the School Board over its vote to shutter 17 schools.<\/a> The fulminating Council members, playing to the TV news cameras and social media virality, did so without offering an alternative plan of their own.<\/p>\n

Particularly disappointing was the virulence of Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, usually a voice of reason. Security had to stand between him and the Board members while he and his colleagues kept interrupting the public meeting. \u201cAfter you vote for this, we\u2019re calling for your resignation,\u201d Thomas yelled. \u201cVote for it, and it\u2019s your last vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Thomas intervened again, Board Chair Reginald Streater had it exactly right: \u201cYou\u2019re setting a great example for our children.\u201d<\/p>\n

A City Hall insider reports that Council President Kenyatta Johnson is considering heeding Thomas\u2019 call to sue the Board, while the Councilman floats turning the appointed Board into an elected one.<\/a> Thomas\u2019 conduct is objectionable not just because it models incivility, but because it perpetuates the perception of politics as permanent combat. Fighting for the sake of fighting has become the norm. What\u2019s missing is the harder work of governance: bringing opposing factions together, finding common ground, rallying diverse interests around a plan, and then managing the tedious, painstaking work of implementation.<\/p>\n

This is no defense of Superintendent Watlington or the School Board \u2014 I\u2019ve already outlined the superintendent\u2019s political shortcomings.<\/a> But what\u2019s remarkable about the public fight over the Board\u2019s vote is how shortsighted the conversation is.<\/p>\n

The real question for Rabb, Stanford and Street ought to be: What solutions do you have for what ails the city, and what in your record suggests you can get them passed?<\/p>\n

Shouldn\u2019t we be widening the aperture of our lens beyond this school closing or that school closing, as painful as those may be, to ask a larger question: How do we educate a generation of kids for a dramatically changing workforce? If Mississippi can figure that out, why can\u2019t Philadelphia? There, education reform has become known as the Mississippi Marathon \u2014 not, as commonly referred to, the Mississippi Miracle.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because they\u2019ve learned that, going from last to nearly first in the nation in literacy and math over the last decade had nothing to do with magic.<\/a> Even more than pedagogy, that turnaround stemmed from sustained leadership, high standards, classroom discipline and teacher coaching. Rather than work on a plan along those lines here, we\u2019ve got City Councilmembers berating School Board members who get paid not a single penny.<\/p>\n

Is Thomas, who has tussled with the mayor, frustrated because, as one insider notes, \u201che\u2019s been sidelined by Cherelle\u201d? Maybe, but that\u2019s no excuse for the spectacle we witnessed. The School Board voted for a plan. If you oppose it, skip the public petulance and come up with a better one.<\/p>\n

The ICE follies <\/p>\n

Last month, led by progressives Kendra Brooks and Rue Landau, Council adopted<\/a> some of the nation\u2019s most aggressive local restrictions on ICE. The legislation doubles down on Philly as a sanctuary city; among other provisions, it bans law enforcement agents from wearing masks and prohibits ICE from using city property for immigration enforcement. In the wake of ICE\u2019s heinous acts in Minnesota and elsewhere, there were loud cheers; \u201cThis legislation shows that Philadelphians are not afraid to stand up to the Trump administration,\u201d Brooks said.<\/p>\n

There are two problems with that argument: One political, one legal. The political? Council\u2019s action may not deter ICE so much as invite escalation. While other big city mayors have poked the federal bear and prompted the type of marauding surges seen in Chicago and Minnesota, Mayor Parker has been smartly strategic not to react to Trump as Trump would. She\u2019s called us a \u201cwelcoming\u201d as opposed to a \u201csanctuary\u201d city.<\/p>\n

She has, in her circumspection, governed. A pragmatist, she understands that taking on ICE might just endanger the very population progressives are trying to protect. Still, yesterday she caved and signed the legislation into law. Meanwhile, her initial instinct has already been borne out; just this week, Republican firebrand Rep. Jim Jordan\u2019s House Judiciary Committee, no doubt aware of Council\u2019s provocations, sent letters<\/a> to DA Larry Krasner, Sheriff Rochelle Bilal and Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel \u201cdemanding information on their offices\u2019 sanctuary policies that prioritize criminal and illegal aliens over American citizens and threaten public safety,\u201d as per the committee press release.<\/p>\n

Who needs to problem-solve when you can rack up likes on social media and hits on local TV news by scoring cheap political points?<\/p>\n

The legal problem is even simpler. City Council<\/a> likely lacks the authority it claims. Sure, Landau has said Council\u2019s law department approved the legislation. But the Constitution of the United States kind of disagrees; Article 1, Section 8 in particular, which grants to Congress authority over immigration. The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently held that immigration is a federal responsibility. So: No city ordinance need apply. What, moreover, are the chances that this Supreme Court will overturn all those precedents?<\/p>\n

Landau, Brooks and their allied activist groups got their headline and feel-good moment. But it was just another example of pyrrhic politics \u2014 symbolic victory masquerading as governance.<\/p>\n

Of course, the performative pander isn\u2019t unique to politics. Remember when Bryce Harper showed up on opening day<\/a> wearing a garish jacket featuring the colors and logos of every Philly team? Sports has its panderers, too. It\u2019s just that when Harper does it, it\u2019s charming. Because we hire him to entertain us, not to solve our problems.<\/p>\n

\"\" MORE ON CITY GOVERNMENT<\/p>\n

Philadelphia City Councilmembers Kendra Brooks (center left) and Rue Landau (to Brooks’ right) on the day Council passed “ICE Out” legislation. Photo by Chris Mansfield and Durrell Hospedale for PHL City Council. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mario Cuomo, the late, great governor of New York, once famously observed that \u201cYou campaign in poetry, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187763,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[19954,19955,990,19956,24565,69,71,70,19959],"class_list":["post-187762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-ala-stanford","tag-chris-rabb","tag-city-council","tag-dwight-evans","tag-isaiah-thomas","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-sharif-street"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}