Willie Brown on the Presidential Race

We interviewed former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown today for a new I-Team investigation into Muni to air beginning Thursday. With tomorrow’s Florida presidential primary, we also wanted to hear his take on the campaign and we thought you might like to see that portion of our interview unedited. Here it is:

We start by asking Mayor Brown, “Barack or Hillary?” He wouldn’t bite. The mayor wants to work as a paid political commentator on television, so he’s keeping his personal opinions to himself. He did say he doubts Barack Obama can close the gap with Hillary Clinton for next week’s California primary. (Other columnists disagree. In today’s Washington Post, Robert Novak writes he believes the race is even here.)

We also discussed the issue of race emerging in the campaign, and how former President Clinton kept it going by downplaying Obama’s win in South Carolina. We asked about Bill Clinton playing the heavy for his wife’s campaign, whether it was “unseemly”. Mayor Brown strongly disagreed, saying there’s no manual for a former president’s conduct, that nobody says he “can’t use steroids, or go to the Gold Club” (an adult entertainment nightclub in San Francisco). He said former presidents don’t have to work at Habitat for Humanity, a reference to Jimmy Carter.

We asked Mayor Brown, among the Republican contenders, who should the Democrats fear? His answer: “If I’m a Democrat running, I would not want John McCain.” Brown says McCain can attract conservative and moderate Democrats: “You want someone so far on the right, like a (Mitt) Romney.”

Comments

[R.S.]

Willie may be right, but I lean towatd McCain as the easiest opponent for either Hillary or Obama. McCain's very appearance marks him as a throwback to an age long gone. And he is a one-issue candidate--Iraq--and a staunch believer in Bush's policies on the war.

Romney looks younger and he may have more than one issue, but it's hard to say. He thinks ancient, too. and he somehow comes across as plastic and insincere.

As much as we may not want to admit it, we vote to a great extent on how people strike us, the way they look, talk, and carry themselves.

And, this is a new generation coming into power, marked by a highly popular female candidate and a highly popular black candidate. Times are changing.