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Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa makes the the front page of today's Wall Street Journal—above the fold (subscribers only), complete with drawn portrait—under the headline "In the Straddle" in a piece about the delicate political balance he's trying to master on immigration. Reporter Miriam Jordan does a good job describing the mayor's wish to be out front on immigration reform, without looking like he's leading any marches—and writes he "has been pounded for every perceived misstep...and from all sides."
If Mr. Villaraigosa appears to be too sympathetic to the cause, he could be pigeonholed as an ethnically driven mayor by both blacks and white conservatives hostile to relaxing immigration laws. Yet appearing critical or even lukewarm about the matter runs the risk of alienating the mayor's biggest and most fervent base of support..."I don't believe I am the leader or face of this movement," [Villaraigosa] says. "I just happen to be the mayor of the city that has a very large immigrant population."
The piece probably serves to introduce Villaraigosa to a new national audience that may not know he's American born, came from a broken home, was temporarily paralyzed as a teenager and got kicked out of his first high school. It also informs people on the origin and pronunciation (the WSJ's take: veeya-ray-GO-zha) of his marital surname. Joel Kotkin, Eli Broad, Carol Sobel, Maria Elena Durazo, Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, Earl Ofari Hutchinson and the chief pastor of First AME are quoted on the ethnic politics of "the straddle." The reporter leaves it to KFI anger talk host John Kobylt to sum up the obstacles the mayor faces, fair or not: "A lot of people look at Villaraigosa and they see an illegal alien. There's no end to how much we'll milk this."