This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both of Us

On Sunday, it was announced that former President Bill Clinton would be coming to Tigertown before the Massillon McKinley game to have a rally in Stadium Park. The former President of the United States was coming here, to Massillon, on the day of the big game. Whether it was former President Clinton, a Democrat, or former President Bush, a Republican, it would have been great exposure for our community to have a former President in town.

Putting politics aside, this type of visit would have put the Massillon community in the spotlight. National press would be in town, our community's issues and concerns would be in the spotlight, and the big game would have been even bigger, with state wide and national media attention. A win-win for the community. Or so one would think.

The problem was that one man wasn't happy. One man who's ego is too big to share the stage, even with a former president, didn't approve. One man decided to put a kibosh on the big event. Massillon's Mayor for Life, Frank Cicchinelli, worked tirelessly today to kill Bill Clinton's Massillon visit.

Mayor Cicchinelli's monstrous ego was bruised because he "learned about the event by reading his Sunday paper" (The Repository, October 25, 2010). It's clear. Our King was mad because the Clinton people didn't properly kiss his royal ring. Period. Mayor Cicchinelli was upset because Bill Clinton did not pay proper homage to the King of the City.

Now, you may read in the next day, or two, about why Frank killed Clinton's visit. The King will talk about security, or traffic, or whatever, but that is merely a smoke screen for the real reason Frank Cicchinelli killed a visit to Massillon by a former President. Word on the street is that Massillon's Mayor for Life felt slighted because he wasn't involved in the event, and that his bruised ego led him to killing the presidential visit.

How petty. Sad, but this is what we have come to expect from our Mayor for Life. He told the former President of the United States to hit the bricks, that he was not welcome in Massillon. Forget politics. Democrat, or Republican. It was the former President of the United States and Frank Cicchinelli told him he was not welcome. Beat it.

From a political point of view, Bill Clinton is a Democratic Party icon, and the Democratic Party is days away from a big election. Clinton's visit would have energized the troops and probably have helped the local Democratic candidates. Our mayor is a Democrat. I wonder how the Democratic Party feels that their Democratic mayor killed a visit by a former Democratic President just three days before election day. We can here the cries of "Thanks Frank" all the way from Washington D.C.

What the former President of the United States, the former leader of the free world, the former leader of our nation has not learned is that you don't get to be mayor for life by sharing the spotlight with a President, and that this town ain't big enough for the both of us.