So Bing Has His Mandate.. Now What?

[Fnemecek]

Undoubtedly, with 58% of the vote, Dave Bing has his mandate. It wasn't even close, though Barrow did admirably for being underfunded and understaffed [[and Bing didn't campaign, really, except for media buys).

Regardless, it's now Dave's table. No one can say he wasn't elected to a full term. No one can say he even eeked out a win. Detroiters overwhelmingly put their faith in him.

Regardless of your feelings of qualifications - they no longer matter, as he's won, and these are the people we have in charge, where do we go from here?

I would love it if Mayor Bing took this as a mandate to begin implementing the kind of change that's he's talked about for almost a year now. However, if his first 6 months on the job are any indicator, he'll most likely do little to nothing from this point forward. We had a $300 million structural deficit when he took office 6 months ago. We have a $300 million structural deficit today.

Eventually, the City of Detroit will go into receivership. The exact date of it is still up in the air but it will almost certainly happen in 2010.

When it does, Mayor Bing will almost certainly blame everyone but his own administration for failing to get things done.

In the meantime, most of the Old Boys Club that is his administration will likely spend the bulk of their time jockeying for position in a 2013 mayoral run.