Andrea Batista Schlesinger

Mayor Rocky Anderson: “These disastrous Bush years”

It's easy for Americans to be abstractly frustrated by the war. We know that Iraq is drawing away resources and attention. We spend $200 million a day in Iraq -- so much money it's hard to understand the implications. It's hard to know what that means for our daily lives.

Not for Rocky Anderson.

Anderson is the headline-grabbing mayor of Salt Lake City. He made international news by organizing an anti-war protest against George W. Bush in 2005, and later calling for Bush's impeachment. (This in the middle of Utah, which voted stronger for Bush in 2004 than any other state.) Every day, he sees what happens when the nation's coffers are devoted to war, not the cities in which 80% of Americans live.

"This is a president who has not only entirely neglected cities," the Mayor said, "but has hurt our cities in such enormous ways, both in terms of policy-making and fiscal decisions."

Bush's focus on terrorism and war has meant a near-complete disengagement with urban policy, Anderson charges. "Republicans and Democrats alike, among mayors in this country, have been very, very upset and concerned about the disregard for cities by this administration."

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Posted at 9:10 PM, Dec 13, 2007 in Mayor Rocky Anderson | MayorTV
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