Nation: Rizzo Again

He unites his foes

Vote white," implored Philadelphia mayor Frank Rizzo at a recent ward meeting. There was no reaction from his white working-class audience, which took the remark as a matter of course. But next day, despite Rizzo's insistence that he did not intend to be taken seriously, black leaders seized on it as further evidence that the combative former cop is a racist at heart.

Indeed, in almost seven years as mayor, Rizzo has infuriated almost every voter bloc in the city except the blue-collar ethnics who helped elect him in the first place. He has angered liberals by defending...