Gavin Newsom: Political Genius

Lost in the shuffle of "activist judges," and "unbeholden" politicians has been the utter shrewdness of San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom. Less than three months ago Newsom, while being anointed the new face of the California Democratic Party outside of San Francisco, came a few absentee ballots from watching Green Party upstart Matt Gonzalez send him back to his Marina District mansion and trust fund. After serving as a city supervisor and running a campaign that pretty much proved my father's adage, "with Democrats like these, who needs Republicans," February found Newsom making a Hubert Humphrey-esque move that combined political long-sightedness with a great dose of good old fashioned radical social change. Newsom, only three weeks ago the latte-drinking, homeless abusing, business pandering man that progressive San Francisco loved to hate has pretty much been given the title of "Mayor for Life" from this same constituency. While his granting of marriage licenses for thousands of gay and lesbian couples was certainly one of the most couragious moves seen on the American scene in quite some time, we should not lose sight of its expediency. More than likely, the very young Newsom is betting that in the long run, his move has both given him a masssive base to work from in San Francisco for as long he would like and, given the speed of the winds of change regarding queer civil rights in America (remember, a mere 17 years separate the embarrassing and discriminatory Bowers v. Hardwick decision from last summer's Lawrence ruling), hero status in the minds of Americans who ten to fifteen years from now, may look back on the furor surrounding gay marriage with embarassment. Newsom figures that when he gets around to running for statewide or even national office, he'll be looked back upon as the man willing to take a stand on an issue that most of America may shamefully remember as another moment when they sat idly by while justice was slowly achieved.