Jerry Brown was on "Face the Nation" yesterday talking Democrats and Republicans, money and politics, and other stuff. His most interesting answers came at the end of the interview with CBS' Bob Schieffer...
You've been around for awhile. As you look back, what do you think you've learned in these years you've spent in public life?
I've learned you don't get things done overnight. It does take time. The things I was talking about 30 years ago -- pension reform, renewable energy, completing the California water plan, high-speed rail -- they're right at the top of the agenda today... But we're into instant gratification, get it done. If you don't do it in two years, you're a failure. Life doesn't work that way."
What's harder, governor of California or mayor of Oakland?
Governor is more difficult. It's more removed, it's more abstract. You're dealing will bills. As mayor you're dealing with cops and criminals and developments. I like to say condos, cops, criminals. You want to make the streets safer, and you want to make the city bloom and prosperous. Mayor is a hands-on thing; you're walking down the same streets, the same corners, the same high schools; you see them day after day. Governor you're in the capital, but the capital really isn't anywhere. The state is so big, that it's a very different experience than the hands-on, immediate encounter that a mayor has.
