Richard Cohen on DC

I live around DC for 13 years. That was through the Sharon Pratt Kelly, Marion Barry's "Redemption Administration", a time when the Federal Government was running the city, and Anthony William's two administrations. I have lived in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Virginia and now Alabama. All of have there varying level so corruption and incompetence. With most states it is with the elected officials, but in DC it is often with the civil servants. Part of this is that Marion Barry, when he ran the city, used the government as a jobs program and tried to hire as many DC residents as he could. A lot of them, due to the schools and the culture, were not qualified. One thing DC can do is unite people across all spectrums of political thought, so see Richard Cohen's Merry Christmas column here.