Jane Kim: Opportunist---and birdbrain?

We already know that District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim is an opportunist: she moved into District 6 early in 2010 to run for supervisor, opposing another progressive, Debra Walker, who has lived in the district for 20 years. But that kind of unprincipled opportunism---it undermines the very concept of district elections---is not uncommon in San Francisco.

Kim also abandoned the Green Party when Barack Obama made being a Democrat fashionable again here in Progressive Land.

And it's not hard to find evidence that Kim is a lightweight intellectually, even by the city's rather low standards. Check out her campaign website, where you won't find the "issues" category common on other candidates' websites. Kim doesn't do issues very well, but she hasn't had to, since a pretty face, a crude opportunism, and her ambition have been enough---so far.

And take her response to the Bicycle Coalition's questionnaire that is remarkably lame even for a candidate seeking that group's endorsement:

I am currently learning how to bike with the awesome tutorial help of my Bike Coalition friends! It is something I have always wanted to do, and I am a perfect example of how learning to ride a bike isn't limited to age. Having grown up in a city my entire life, I never learned to bike or drive...I am excited to grow into a stronger and more confident biker and I live in a district where biking can get me to meeting and errand destinations quicker than other modes of transportation..

"Awesome" and "excited"! The valley girl diction is typical---gag me with a bike lock---and her opportunism is on display again: she doesn't even know how to ride a bike, but, with the Coalition's help, she's willing to learn! Meanwhile, she'll support whatever the Bicycle Coalition wants to do to our streets, because that's what's fashionable in her "progressive" political/social circle.

Okay, I would say that, since I'm the main critic in SF of the great, planet-saving bike revolution.

But today's Examiner provides more evidence that Kim is a birdbrain: she won't recite the Pledge of Allegiance because "I don't believe we are a nation with liberty and justice for all---yet."

Well, no shit! The pledge is aspirational---what we hope to become as a nation---not descriptive of what we are, like The Star Spangled Banner isn't necessarily an historically accurate account of the Battle of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812.

Kim digs herself in deeper: "I think I am very loyal to the country...I've expressed my patriotism through my years of doing organizing work, being a civil-rights lawyer and being a public servant now."

Kim doesn't understand that reciting her oh-so progressive resume is irrelevant to acknowledging her loyalty to the country, which is the United States of America.

I disagreed with termed-out District Supervisor Daly on almost everything---except his attempt to ban handguns in the city---but even he was smarter than this.

Kim's backers---like Willie Brown and Rose Pak---should take her aside and get her to dump the facile, left-wing anti-Americanism that she learned in the Green Party. But recall that Kim supports dumping JROTC from city schools, a position that's not even popular among Asian-Americans in San Francisco.