Of learning from one's mistakes -- and choosing the right horse.

For some amongst us, it is a virtue to remain fixed and motionless throughout life’s invariably rich and evolving pageant, never stretching, never growing, never learning, and never capable of smiling when the occasion demands it and saying, “I was mistaken.”

We are not to be counted among such people.

Regular readers of NA Confidential will recall that in the beginning, almost one long year ago, the New Albanian landscape was critically surveyed with the impatience (some would say impertinence) of a novice.

In fall, 2004, we were incited by Mayor James Garner’s infamous “respect” letter to the Courier-Journal, a missive that even he probably wishes had been filed in his desk rather than mailed, as so many of Abraham Lincoln’s more pointed commentaries were penned and then withheld, the Great Emancipator understanding that there are times when venting is best facilitated privately.

Primarily from this letter, and from this letter alone, we assumed the expression on the mayor’s face to the public to be one of uninformed arrogance, and owing to a determination on our part to press forward with our diagnosis of the traditional New Albanian disease of proud backwardness, we freely and eagerly drew conclusions from the evidence at hand.

We have since been proven wrong in coming to these hasty conclusions.

And we apologize for them.

The mayor’s deficiencies in working a crowd are obvious, and he recognizes his shortcomings, but an inability (or reluctance) to actively practice the time-tested political shams of hucksterism and demagoguery might be regarded as an attribute in a better educated community, particularly when accompanied by an encyclopedic command of the relevant facts, and a vision for the future.

This vision may be imperfect, but it embraces the basic tenets of what should be the fundamental aim of any city’s leader: Improving the quality of life for all, not some, of the citizenry, and preparing the city for the challenges of the future.

In New Albany’s specific case, Mayor Garner sees that we must embark upon the laborious task of lessening the municipal dysfunction bequeathed to us over a long period of neglect and desperation, and rededicating ourselves to the task of investing in the future -- not just of buildings, but of people.

Mayor James Garner has proven himself to be equal to the pursuit of this unforgiving and maddening task, and in a startling refutation of politics as usual, accordingly has sacrificed vast chunks of political capital in the process of doing what he not only feels is right, but can support with facts and figures.

At the same time, those opposing his leadership for whatever motive have failed to articulate a coherent vision, refused to answer the facts presented by the mayor and his administration, and owing to this utter lack of philosophical and programmatic content, must now stoop to the subterranean levels of political mudslinging – disgraceful even by New Albany’s disgusting standards -- in order to arrest the progress that they fear will compromise their own undeniably culpable positions in this most dysfunctional of systems.

In the broadest sense, New Albany will succeed only if it gets smarter. Mayor Garner seeks this unquestioned prerequisite.

Meanwhile, the Gang of Four and the entrenched interests it represents are in opposition to a smarter city, one prepared for the demands of the 21st century.

Missteps? Of course there’ll be some. But in the end, it’s an easy choice for us.

We regret only that we didn’t see the truth sooner, but a proper respect for posterity demands that no revisions derived from hindsight be made to the written record, and none shall be.

Dogmatic partisans are quite free to select at random from the 400 postings that have appeared on NA Confidential, to arrange them in any matter that they see fit, and by doing so continue to pay us the ultimate compliment:

Reading what we write.