by Karl Kurtz
"Willie Brown, Well-Suited to Politics," is a very engaging seven minute interview by Michelle Norris with the former speaker of the California Assembly and mayor of San Francisco on NPR's All Things Considered. It is based on Brown's new book, Basic Brown: My Life, Our Times. The interview ranges from his advice about clothes for politicians to his thoughts about the Democratic presidential campaign and the role of women and minorities in politics. NPR's Web page also has excerpts from the book about his views on sex scandals and his own social life.
But I particularly liked the portion of the interview in which Brown demonstrates the Lyndon Johnson style of political pragmatism for which he is known. Asked what are the most important lessons to be learned from the book, he says:
...Your life should not be taken so seriously that you attempt to be perfect at everything you do.... You must understand that in the world of politics your views hold no more sway and have no more effectiveness than that which you are able to gather as a majority. You find very quickly that that means that you must tolerate different views, sometimes views that may prove to be better at building a consensus. Once you adjust to those kinds reality, you are in a position, just maybe, to be a successful politician.
More than 30 years ago I spent a couple of weeks in China with a delegation of state legislators that included Willie Brown. This was very early in the opening up of China to westerners, and all of us in the group were objects of great curiosity on the streets of Beijing or Shanghai to people who were not used to seeing whites, much less African-Americans. But the guy who really drew a crowd was Willie, not just because of the color of his skin but because of his personal magnetism. His charisma, which was always evident within our delegation, was also obvious to Chinese on the streets who didn't know who he was and didn't speak his language. A man who craves attention, he loved every moment of it when crowds gathered around him on street corners.
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