"HOW DO YOU CATCH A MONKEY?" asked Shaka, the great Zulu chief of South Africa to a British emissary in the early 1820's. It was a rhetorical question, and the Englishman answered correctly. "You take a gourd and secure it to a tree," he began. "The mouth of the goUrd should only be wide enough for the monkey's hand to fit through. Then you put something shiney inside the gourd, such as a seashell, something that will attract the monkey's attention. When the monkey reaches inside the gourd his hand becomes stuck because he won't let go of the shell." Shaka smiles and asks, "And why won't the monkey let go of the shell, even if it means he will be captured." The Englishman ponders the simian psychology for a moment, and then replies, "Well, I suppose it's because he's greedy."
In Philadelphia, a Chaka by another spelling seems intent upon demonstrating the implicit wisdom to be gained from this kingly African parable. You can't get your hand stuck in the gourd if you never reach for what's inside. And shiney object inside this particular gourd is as attractive as it gets in local politics -- the Democratic nomination for mayor of Philadelphia.
Just weeks before the November general elections, U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, is poised to win his seventh term in Congress from Pennsylvania's 2nd Congressional District, which includes most of South, West and Southwest Philadelphia, Center City west of Broad, Manayunk, Roxborough, Germantown, Mt. Airy, Chestnut Hill, East and West Oak Lane and Cheltenham Township in Montgomery County. Just last week Fattah fattened his election compaign coffers by several hundred thousand dollars after fund raising visits by the two reigning Democratic Party superstars, former President Bill Clinton and Illinois U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.
Fattah needed this money to defeat Republican challenger Michael Gessner of Elkins Park about as much as Kim Jung Il needs a nuclear weapon. No this money is being raised for the spring primary when Fattah seeks his party's nomination for mayor. Or maybe not. Fattah won't say.
Despite being the presumed front runner in the mayor's race, Fattah seems to be looking at the top job in City Hall as a trecherous bauble inside a dangerous gourd. If he resigns from Congress he gives up seven-term seniority for the crap shoot that is the mayor's race. Beyond that, his wife, NBC-10 anchor Renne Chenault-Fattah would undoubtedly have to give up her nightly anchor duties during the mayoral campaign. And if he wins, can you imagine watching nightly news reports about City Hall being delivered by the mayor's wife? Not gonna happen.
But there's something else afoot in Fattah's mayoral reluctance. One thing demonstrated by any successful candidate for mayor of Philadelphia in my lifetime, is a hunger for the job. Even the unsuccessful candidates (Sam Katz, for instance) show a palpable passion and commitment. If you look at the best and worst mayors over the last 50 years, all of them were distinct public personalities well-known to Philadelphians before they ever ran for mayor the first time.
For me, the odd thing about Fattah is that I don't even know the sound of his voice. And he has been either my state senator or congressman since we moved to West Philadelphia in 1985. I still don't feel like I know him after 21 years. Last week Philadelphia Weekly columnist Kia Gregory asked Fattah to just come out and say he's running for mayor. He replied, "One of the things I'm trying to determine is if I were going to change course and run for mayor, if I would do that in a significant way. I want to make this city 100 times better than it is today. Not just slightly better, but substantially better."
A hundred times better, huh? Sounds like a man with both hands in his pockets who is well pleased with his current job.
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