Mayor Reed is a Leader NOT a Politician

When I was on the radio the criticism most commonly leveled against career politicians was that they were not leaders.

Elected officials, they argued, often did what was necessary to stay in office, and that was it. They said they never seemed to make the tough decisions.

Well, I have always said that Mayor Reed was a good politician. Now, I must say, I believe he is a good leader, as well.

Leaders make tough decisions. Leaders make the decisions that may be bad for some but, when looked through the prism of the whole, they make the right decision.

Take for example the pension issue.

This issue was ripe for traditional "Atlanta Way" (credit John Suggs?? Ernie Suggs??) politics: take care of the voters by buying them off and worry about the consequences later.

But, Reed did the right thing and for the right reasons. He took care of Atlanta's future. The usual crowd yelled at the mayor for cutting this deal and the city council was ready to pass the buck so as not to upset the voting base of city workers. But Reed did what was right for all, not for his re-election.

I applaud him for being tough and having the you know whats to get the pension overhaul done. Kudos to you, M.r Mayor for being a leader and not just a run-of-the-mill politician.

Also, look at his handling of the teaching scandal (I still say everyone should face the voters again, please contact me if you are interested in running for the school board. We have hundreds of volunteers, the children). Mayor Reed made the tough choice and went against a supporter (Khaatim El) to right the ship.

This is leadership and it has not gone unnoticed by us on the sidelines.