The Audacity of Mr. Wilder; Opening the door 'for other things to happen'

Editorial From The Washington Post pg. A16 

BEFORE BARACK Obama ever popularized it, "the audacity of hope" was more than a phrase in Virginia politics; it was lived experience. When L. Douglas Wilder, the first African American state senator elected in Virginia since Reconstruction, weighed a race for lieutenant governor in 1985, his candidacy was rated such a fantasy that fellow Democrats implored him not to run and Republicans chortled that he would be thrashed by any opponent with a pulse. Mr. Wilder won anyway, notching a victory so improbable that he alone could surpass it -- which he did, four years later, by becoming the first African American elected governor of a state.  Mr. Wilder, 77, who since 2005 has been mayor of Richmond, his hometown, announced the other day that he would retire from elective politics at the conclusion of his term in office next year.

Silver-tongued, cunning, by turns brash, prickly and suavely charming, Mr. Wilder made excellent copy for journalists while managing also to be a fine governor. Taking office in a recession, he was forced to make brutal spending decisions, which he did with little ado while also setting Virginia on a sound fiscal path by establishing and institutionalizing a rainy day fund that provides the state with budgetary ballast to this day.
Fiercely independent by nature, he broke frequently (and, more recently, for good) with his own Virginia Democratic Party, which had lent him such faint support in his first run for statewide office. He delighted in that, and in keeping some of the party's national grandees at arm's length as well. In his campaign for governor, he let it be known that he welcomed help from the Rev. Jesse Jackson -- as long as Mr. Jackson did not set foot on Virginia soil.