Of power, race, and beautiful women

The mayor of Detroit is a man named Kwame Kilpatrick. He was first elected in 2002 and reelected in 2006 (there's the power part). For the record (its relevance will emerge) he is a black man and he is married(there's the beautiful woman part).

A bit of history:
1. During his first term in office Mr. Kilpatrick was embroiled in a scandal...it was alledged that he had an affair with his chief of staff (that makes it women). There was also a major issue over the doling out of city contracts ar some such that was the more important issue at the time. The man who blew the proverbial whistle was fired before he could get the whole story out, it was all covered up and lots of paper was shredder.

2. Also during his first term Mr. Kilpatrick was found to be having an affair with another woman(too bad there's no word meaning three women). So during his reelection campaign he went on TV and had an emotional moment with his wife where he apologized and vowed never to do it again and so on and so forth. And she said she was struggling with the pain and so on and so forth. Anyway he was reelected based apparently on the widespread perception that the white establishment of Detroit was out to get him (there's race)

3. Last fall the man who was fired for exposing the mayor's misbehavior fired suit under the federal whistleblower's protection act. As a part of that suit Mr. Kilpatrick testified under oath that he had never had an affair with his chief of staff. And she did the same. It didn't matter however because the jury found for the plaintiff. The city appealed and eventually settled with the lucky man who lost his job to the tune of several million dollars(taxpayer money in a city that can't afford to maintain basic services).

4. In January the Detroit Free Press aquired Mr Kilpatrick's work cell phone records under the freedom of information act and combed through his text messages. It was revealed unambiguously that he did in fact have an affair with his chief of staff and perjured himself during the trial. And he knew the whole time that the affair was a matter of public record easily accertainable by the public.

This is where I come in. I have taken to going down to the gym a few times a week and walking and running on the treadmill. I like to go at 7:30 and watch Jeopardy. So I went down there and turned on Jeopardy, except it wasn't it was Mr. Kilpatrick doing the whole "sorry I'll never do it again" song and dance routine with his wife. They were on every channal, so I had to listen to him go on and on about how he's not stepping down etc. I was a little upst because to my mind he really shouldn't even be given a stage upon which to act. And they canceled the show I was going to watch. Then, they had a little segment of reactions to the speech...every black respondant said they believed him and felt sorry for him and felt like he should be given another chance. Every white respondant thought he should step down. There were also protesters marching in the street against the white people of Detroit and the media for persecuting the Mayor. It was fascinating to me. It seems like race is a bigger issue here than in Arizona. I could be wrong. Anyway...here...or in Detroit anyway...its a chasm, a huge dividing factor. Not in personal interaction as much...but certainly in cultural outlook and approach major issues. I'm not trying to imply that all blacks or all whites think alike. Just that there is a major cultural divide in this city.

5. Mr Kilpatrick is currently embroiled in a scandal concerning a topless dancer who turned up brutally murdered and is currently believed to have had several affairs in office.

6. The thing is, he seems to have done a pretty good job as mayor of Detroit...not most people's dream job. The city has seen consistent improval by all accounts under his watch.