Mayor Mike McGinn doesn’t mind Seattle Times’ George W. Bush comparison

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn doesn’t seem to mind a Seattle Time’s columnist likening him to President George W. Bush.

“Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn would like to be known as the most progressive mayor in America.”

But for a few moments this week, he sounded a bit like George W. Bush,” wrote Seattle Times Jonathan Martin in a column on Wednesday.

The piece focused on the mayor’s response to a question posed during the forum featuring Seattle’s mayoral candidates, asking the candidates what their biggest professional regret is.

Columnist Martin said, “McGinn whiffed. He first suggested he most regretted waiting too long to enter politics, an answer that left a trail of ????s in my notes.”

Martin said the mayor failed to identify a mistake in his response, recalling former president George W. Bush.

Here is the mayor’s full response to the question: What’s your biggest professional regret?

“I don’t know. I’ve really worked hard,” the mayor began.

“There’s the John Lennon song, life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans – I’ve just always focused on trying to work in the community and get engaged. I was a lawyer for 13 years. Maybe that was a little too long because what I found was my Sierra Club work and neighborhood work really mattered.

“I came into this job all a fire, really wanted to create a lot of change as fast as I could, and I’ve had to kind of go to mayor’s school. I like to say, there isn’t a mayor’s school, you have to do it, and we’ve dealt with a lot of challenges there. And I guess I wish I could have climbed the learning curve a little faster than I did, but I’m going to keep working on climbing that learning curve.

“And I think we’ve made great progress in this city too, and I’m glad I ran for mayor, I’m glad I’m mayor. I’d love to have the job again. And I guess my commitment to you is I’m committed to being a learning mayor and keep doing everything I can to do the best I can by you.”

What do you think? George W. Bush-esque?

Either way, McGinn said on KIRO Radio’s Ross and Burbank Show he’s not perturbed by The Seattle Times’ comparison.

“From the Seattle Times, that’s getting me a little bit hopeful,” said McGinn, “they endorsed George Bush, you know, so maybe they’ll come around and endorse me.”