So I finished up former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker’s new book, The Seamless City, and I have two more thoughts, not necessarily about the book, but about what the book says about Baker.
First and foremost, this bookcearly positions Baker as one of the next Stephen Goldsmith‘s. Goldsmith is the former mayor of Indianapolis now serving as the deputy mayor of New York City. He is identified as one of the proponents of the‘compassionate conservatism’ thatwas all the rageamong the GOP a decade ago. Like Goldsmith (and hisally Jeb Bush), Baker understands — andwrites eloquently about it in this book — the need for Republican leaders to offerconservative techniques and concepts in order to improve the general welfare of society.
Thisbrings me to my second point, which isthat you really can’t talk about Baker without talking about Jeb. Is there no doubt that havingBush and Baker in elected office would be betterfor Florida and St. Petersburg than what the current leadership offersthe state andthe city?