Player Mayor on Colbert

"My guest is Kevin Johnson, former NBA star and newly elected mayor of Sacramento. He'd better do a good job, or they'll trade his ass to Fresno."

That's how the show began... KJ appeared on The Colbert Report just days after winning the mayoral election in Sacramento (although he announced his appearance weeks before the election). If you missed it, take a look below, and we'll disect it from there.

Alright, first of all, let me be clear: I'm willing to give the guy a chance. He has some good ideas for the city. Whether or not he knows how to carry any of them out is questionable, but his mailers have at least been intriguing. Sacramento has troubled schools and violent crime rates that rival Oakland. Something needs to be done, and KJ is offering a new course, which is what got him elected. That being said, let's take a look at the interview:

First off, I have never heard him be referred to as "Little Barack". In fact, the only nickname I remember hearing from the campaign trail is "Slum Lord". He may have tried to mirror Obama's campaign through similar looking fliers and the promotion of "change", but "Little Barack"? Not sure about that one.

Second, he says that he opposed Prop 8, yet he stated in several debates that he "believes marriage is between a man and a woman", and was embraced by the Yes on 8 clan. I don't know how he voted, but I had to raise an eyebrow on that point.

Third, the St. Hope charitable organization that is proudly touted has been under a federal investigation, which "found evidence that Johnson himself personally benefited from fraudulent activities". That part was left out of the interview.

Finally, while I can certainly appreciate his attempt to bring Sacramento into the national spotlight and stepping up to the challenge of taking the city in a new direction, I can't help but point out that Johnson had never been into the city counsel chambers until taking a "questionable" after-hours tour offered by a security guard a few weeks ago. It seems to me that if you want to be the mayor of a city, maybe you should go to a city counsel meeting and see what the mayor actually does. I've been to several, and I can say that they are incredibly boring and have steered me away from any desire to work in public service. Being a staunch Obama supporter, I hate to use the "experience" argument... but I can't help but wonder how the city counsel meetings will be going from here on out. Hey, maybe this'll make them a little more interesting.

In the end, we come away with Sacramento being "incredibly boring" and unable of providing a sandwich beyond 10 PM, but it has also been thrown into the national spotlight. That's what KJ wanted, so I hope he's able to deliver. I'd love to see a Sacramento that's cleaner and less crime-ridden, and the occasional media-overblown scandal doesn't necessarily mean the charges are true, or that the man is unfit to lead. He's just gonna have to step up and prove himself.

Like I said, I'm willing to give the guy a chance. I'm not planning on sticking around this town forever, and he's certainly the more interesting of the two candidates. So now that the country's attention is turned to the city with the NBA mayor, we can kick back and see how he does.