Always tell the voter what the voter wants to hear: Punk Iceland

So a Jello Biafra-sort was elected mayor of Reykjavik (in Iceland). His name is Jon Gnarr and he's a professional comedian known for playing a bald communist; the New York Times calls him Mr. Gnarr.

For a sub-species of attention-seeking punks, political campaigns have always been provocation catnip: Biafra, McLaren, Giuliani.

Biafra, for instance, satirized the way government works by proposing a Board of Bribery. But he also proposed that police be elected by local communities -- a reasonable idea that just isn't politically viable. The tendency is vaguely analogous to Antanas Mockus, the lovable wingnut who was crushed by the mainstream opponent in the Colombian presidential election (but he made a decent showing, considering the vote occurred while the World Cup was happening).

But Gnarr now finds himself in the position of being mayor while Biafra came in fourth place in America's most leftist city. Now Gnarr's got to convert all these satires (like building Disneyland at the airport) into political proposals that can allow him to govern in the wake of Iceland's huge financial catastrophe.

It will be interesting to see if Gnarr (now in charge of a city with one-fourth the population of Minneapolis) will be able to transcend satire and work with the remaining mainstream parties. At least he insists any political partners must watch The Wire first.

In the New York Times piece, which dwelled on eccentric beards and mini-dresses (probably the NY Times expects corsets and handlebar mustaches) Gnarr sounded optimistic, saying: “Of all the projects I’ve been involved with, this one has given me the most satisfaction, the greatest sense of contentment.”

In Minnesota, we've done the Jesse Ventura thing, now maybe we just need Paddy from Dillinger Four to run for governor. Or, that failing, The Strike could always be lured back.

Link: NY Times