Point Austin: Welcome to 2009

Just what we needed, another war in the Middle East.

And as every frog would have wings, our own Gov. Rick Perry – currently touring war zones far from Galveston – appointed himself an authority on the most intractable conflict of our time, issuing a statement defending Israel's attacks on Gaza. "Hamas must cease its attacks on Israel," Perry declared. "No other nation on earth would be expected to stand idly by while a neighbor fired missiles and mortars into its cities, but Israel is being held to an unreasonable, irresponsible standard of restraint. Instead, the world community should be united in its support of Israel's right to defend its citizens and clear in its condemnation of Hamas."

Since the governor has hereby granted us all license as instant foreign-policy experts, I wonder if he has considered what "any other people on earth" might do if they'd been turned into a nation of refugees, corralled as virtual prisoners onto a fraction of their homeland; lived under military occupation for 40 years; been subject to land expropriations and home destructions as official expansionist policy and collective punishment; suffered and watched their children suffer from occupier-enforced malnutrition and lack of medical care; and endured decades of disproportionate warfare from a modern military power armed to the teeth by a foreign empire (that's us). Would such a people be "expected to stand idly by" and submit to their masters or to respond in whatever way they could, even by fanatical self-destruction?

I don't know what will bring an end to this endless cycle of violence, but perpetuating and multiplying that violence a hundredfold is hardly a solution; it creates what it would kill. If we are to condemn "terrorism" – the use of indiscriminate violence for political ends – that condemnation applies on all sides, but especially to massive state terror against civilian targets. To borrow Perry's terms: "The world community must not tolerate terrorism in any form, regardless of any false nobility assigned to its perpetrators or their motives."

The Straus Solution

Elsewhere at the local Capitol, the state House reps who declared their support for "Anybody but Craddick" apparently meant exactly that. The selection of San Antonio Rep. Joe Straus is not only remarkable in that it ends the contentious speakership of Terrible Tom Craddick but in that the relatively unknown Straus emerged from the small rump group of Republican rebels, most of whom had themselves declared for speaker. A fly on the wall of the weekend meeting at Rep. Byron Cook's place reported that the speaker ballot went around several times; in each round, the name with the lowest tally of votes was dropped until Straus emerged the winner. Straus, who hadn't even filed to be speaker, survived the Republican Roulette while several much more seasoned hands – host Cook of Corsicana, Seguin country boy throwback Ed Kuempel, last session's Craddick-gad­fly Jim Keffer (Eastland), presumed favorite Burt Solomons (Carrollton), Longview long­shot Tommy Merritt – all dropped off the list.

In his two terms, Straus hadn't accumulated sufficient enemies or baggage to evoke backlash from the other ABCs, and his election by default says something about the recent history of the Texas House, which – although hugely entertaining for political reporters – has not been a happy place for members trying to get anything done. It may turn out that Straus' ascension confirms a historic shift in Texas political power from rural reps based in ranching and oil, such as Craddick and his predecessors, to the wealthy suburbanites now calling the shots. Ideolog­ic­ally, the change is unlikely to mean much. Straus is a business conservative unbeholden to the GOP's rabid social-conservative base (and anything that upsets those folks is certainly worth doing), but this is a House decision more about management and collegiality than hard partisan politics.

In short, the 81st Legislature might actually get a few more useful things accomplished, but it won't be as much fun to watch.

Let the Games Begin

For political theatre, we can always substitute our municipal antics. We're about to enter the City Council silly season, with at least three member seats and the mayor's chair up for grabs in May.

Incumbents Mike Martinez and Sheryl Cole don't figure to garner formidable opposition, but the battle for mayor between Brewster McCracken (declared) and Lee Lef­fingwell (declaring) is already showing sparks. The curious circumstance of Leffing­well's proposed announcement timing (not so soon as to trigger a special election for his current Place 1 seat nor too late to run an effective mayoral campaign) has created its own dynamic. In December, prominent Leffing­well backers hoping for momentum ran out ahead of their candidate, and now McCracken is slyly undermining his potential opponent's candidacy by questioning the 120-day calendar that would avoid the special election. (It's only hypothetical, you understand.)

Campaigns have a way of clarifying the distinctions otherwise disguised on the coun­cil's consensus-oriented dais, so if things go well, we may actually be able to discern competing visions for Austin's future. Presuming Leffingwell does indeed run for mayor, the races to succeed him in Place 1 and for McCracken's Place 5 promise as well to be real contests. A handful of likely suspects has filed, and we can spend the coming months wondering who is so brave, vain, or foolish as to wish to preside over a city full of hope, enterprise, and optimism – yet sinking, along with the rest of the world, into an economic crisis the likes of which we haven't seen in generations.

Welcome to the new year, Austin.