The Mayor

I won the election
By default

That's not a public statement
I'm not saying that
To be quoted

But since we're...

Since we're just talking
I'll say it

I won by default

I would have liked to have won
Based on merit
But then again
If you add up all the people
Who have won elections based on merit
You'll have a list
With about two people on it
And one of them might be Ghandi

So no, I don't feel terrible
About how I won

I was taught that it's not what gets you in the door that counts
It's what you do once you're in there

And I've gotten in the door before
By default, yes
And once I got in
I did things that negated
How I got in

And that's what's important

I think nowadays you can run a campaign
On happy sunshine and pretty flowers
But would you rather have a nice election
Or a nice term?

I'd rather have the term

I'd rather have a nice, productive term

But the way it happened

The election

The way...

The way I won

I have never won an election
By trotting out
My son

My dead son
For votes

Never

Not once
Not ever

I became mayor of this city
Without ever having to do that
And I planned on doing it again
And I did, I tried
At least

I didn't bring him up

And I don't blame Ms. Scott
For bringing him up

She was asked a question by a reporter
And she answered flippantly

And then the media took what she said
And made it about my son

To be honest, I don't even know
What the exact question was
Because within twenty-four hours of answering it
She'd dropped so far in the polls
She became a non-issue

It wasn't until I was asked to give a response
To her response
That I realized what happened

Well, no, now that I think about it
That's not entirely honest

I first found out about it
When it was aired on the news
And one of my advisors came into the room
And congratulated me on winning the election

Meanwhile, an issue that was very private to me
Got dragged out in public

And again, I don't blame Ms. Scott for that
I blame the media

She sent me a lovely note
Saying that she would never--

But it was unnecessary

I knew what happened

And what I find thoroughly amusing
If you want to call it that
If you want to call it 'amusing'
About the whole experience
Is that the media would like you to believe
That they were repulsed at the notion
Of someone taking a jab at me
In regards to my son

When in reality
They were just licking their chops
Because someone gave them a juicy soundbyte

Ms. Scott learned a hard lesson
The same lesson every politician
On the losing end of an election learns
Because most of them lose for the same reason

They start thinking the media is their friend

As soon as you start thinking those people are on your side
Because they like your flash
And your brassy attitude
You're dead in the water

You can't make friends with the piranhas

Ms. Scott thought she was their darling

What she didn't realize was that everyone gets to be the darling
For two weeks

And the day they asked her that loaded question
It had been two weeks since they ran a feature on her in the Journal
Touting her as a renegade

Two weeks

That's all you get

Then they throw you in the fire

. . . . .

My son would be thirty this year

And I'm going to tell you something
Off the record

If he were still alive
I wouldn't be doing this

I wouldn't subject him to the kind of scrutiny
Ms. Scott and her family
Have been put through

My wife can take it
She doesn't mind

When you lose a child
You find that you really don't have much left to fear
In the world

But if Jack were still around
I'd have quit after reaching town council

But when he died
I had to do something
I physically had to do something
I had to be doing something at all times

I couldn't sit still

I needed to be consumed by something
And politics was good for that

Some people are saying I could wind up as a Senator
And that would be...

I would entertain that possibility
Because I'd like to go to Washington
Because I'm a good politician
Because I institute change--real change

Because in that sort of position
I could lobby harder for drunk driving laws
I could...

I could run

But they'd want to know about Jack

They'd want me to use Jack
The people helping me
And the people against me
Would come up with plans
In the event that I did use him

And just knowing--just knowing
That somewhere out there
There'd be dry erase boards
With my sons name on it
In black magic marker
With lines coming out of it
Detailing all the ways to make his story--our story
Less sympathetic
Reminds me of him lying in the hospital bed
With the tubes and the...

The...

No.

No, I won't do that

I'll fulfill my term and then...

We'll see, but eventually
I'm going to have to find something else to do
That doesn't involve
Meetings and interviews
And those dry erase boards

Eventually I'll need to find something else
That can keep me moving

Because increasingly I find myself
Not moving at all

But rather
Watching everyone else
Move right past me

By the way, I noticed that the tape recorder
Just stopped

Your battery must be low

Would you like me to wait
While you recharge it?

That's fine

I can wait