Less hesitant statements

I just recently saw Dr. Dowd’s video from his website (www.dowdforpittsburgh.org), the short version of his campaign announcement. The extent of my involvement in his campaign has pretty much been documented here, I have yet to go to his campaign headquarters, or do any volunteering (if I am so inlcined). But I want to say that he is saying, if not all the, then many right things, in my opinion. I am cynical about politicians and politics, how can you not be if you spend any time following politics? But I try to look with a clear enough eye to see that mostly this time is no worse, if no better, than any time in a variety of pasts, stretching from my lifetime on back. Which is to say my cynicism is itself tempered with a realization that all politicians are people, and therefore none should be seen as a saint. But some are better than others. If Dr. Dowd’s record is a short one and not from council, at least he is saying right things. If he is only able to follow through on one or two of what he is talking about, such as putting in place public measurements of city government progress or fighting for public transit, then Pittsburgh will be a better place. Or at least no worse than it is now. If that sounds like damning with faint praise, from experience I will say that faint progress is pretty well miraculous for most politicians. The ones around here seem trapped in the old time union rust belt mentality, so any new point of view is worth taking a look at. In my opinion.