Carl “Silky Slim” Lewis (D-California) gave his first interview of the 2011 legislative election season to Celeste Whittaker of the Courier-Post, Save Jerseyans.
His campaign theme? Combating “mediocrity” among the youth:
Lewis hates what he calls a “culture of mediocrity,” and helping youth avoid that life is among the reasons he’s running for a New Jersey state Senate seat as a Democrat in the 8th District.
“The kids are the reason I’m running,” says Lewis, who won nine Olympic gold medals in his 18-year track and field career. “The culture of mediocrity — that’s happened in our society. Parents are saying, “It’s so tough and it’s so difficult.’
No one is going to argue with Carl Lewis that too many Americans have grown a little too comfortable with mediocrity; our national credit rating is proof enough.
But these are just words. Vague, albeit sweet-sounding, utterances devoid of substance. What I’m waiting for in this race is to hear precisely what the former Olympian believes to be the source of this creeping mediocrity. Will he criticize the teachers unions for lowering standards and stymieing progress? Or is Carl Lewis another typical liberal Democrat who judges “mediocrity” strictly in terms of funding levels? Does he support school choice reforms that would allow New Jersey’s most vulnerable kids to reach their highest potential? Or will he cast his lot with the wasteful, unaccountable public monopoly that has failed the next generation?
Lewis could get off to a good start by backing the bipartisan Opportunity Scholarship Act and, if he’s really truly willing to buck mediocrity, by announcing his intention to decline any support, financial or otherwise, from the New Jersey Education Association. Now THAT would be something, wouldn’t it?
Lewis’s opening statements provide few hints of a possible rebel streak. That’s always the challenge with machine-produced politicians: their thoughts are rarely their own. In this case, we may be waiting a good long while for hard details to emerge. For all this talk of pursuing excellence, Carl Lewis certainly chose to affiliate himself with the most mediocre county party organization in New Jersey. It wasn’t always that way. Ask Rick Perr. Or Peter Cammarano.
MEDIOCRITY ON TAPE: Burlington Co., NJ School Kids Taught to Praise Obama (September 2009)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO3NBqT3LBc
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