Ed Rendell: The Philadelphia Will Do interview

If Ed Rendell has a 2006 like the Philadelphia Eagles’ 2005, he’s going to be looking for a new job. A year after his favorite team stumbled to a 6-10 record and missed the playoffs for the first time since 1999. Coincidentally, that’s the year Rendell left office as Philadelphia mayor, only to return to win Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial election in 2002. (He also returned doing Eagles postgame commentary on television.)

Rendell’s been labeled as a Philly-friendly governor, so expect heavy anti-cheesesteak propaganda from his Republican challenger — former Hall of Fame football player Lynn Swann — in the coming months. While the jury’s out on whether Fast Eddie is favorable to Philadelphia, it certainly doesn’t hurt the city to have him there. Expect a big turn-out-the-vote effort.

As part of PW’s ‘Next’ issue, online and at honor boxes around the city now, Philadelphia Will Do talked with Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell a few weeks ago. In the interest of political fairness, when I talked with Gov. Rendell, we decided to focus on the most important of topics for Philadelphians this year: Will the Eagles suck in 2006?

Just real simple. Do you think the Eagles can get back to the Super Bowl next year?
Although the NFC East has improved, I don’t think either the Redskins, Cowboys or Giants are a better team than we are. And if we’re willing to spend cap money for an impact defensive lineman, linebacker and wide receiver, then I think we’re more than capable of winning the division.

The Super Bowl is another story—multiple things have to happen for the Eagles to get back there. But they’re certainly capable of it. I think we can be, again, if we’re willing to spend our cap money.

Was Post Game Live harder to do this year with the team so bad for the first time since 1999?
The show’s much harder to do when we’re losing. it’s a much more difficult show. I’m on the show to provide a fan’s perspective, and all of our fans know how tough this season was. People were asking me why the Eagles were losing, and my wife just said to say, ‘Love hurts.’ The reason this season was so difficult and so upsetting is how much we love the team. We’re not just fans when they win. Because we love so much, the highs are very high and the lows are very low.

Can Donovan McNabb return to his Pro Bowl form next season?
I think he’s going to be back. He’s going to have a great year. He was injured this year, damaged goods from Game 1. My view is that next year he’s going to be the same old Donovan.

Speaking of the Eagles, do you think your fandom could come up in this year’s campaign? Your opponent played for the Steelers.
Lynn Swann’s a good guy. Elections like these almost usually turn into a referendum on the incumbent, and we think we’ve done really well these last four years. If people think we’ve done a good job, then I’ll be governor for another four years. If not, I’ll go out and find something else to do.

Are you looking forward to the campaign?
I’m looking forward to campaigning in the sense of going around the state and laying out what we’ve accomplished the past four years. I think because Harrisburg gets so little press coverage, not everyone knows what we’ve done. Harrisburg only gets covered when there’s controversy.

But, to be honest, can I say I am looking forward to 10 months of being told I’m doing a bad job? No, who would?

What do you think has contributed to the idea of Philadelphia as the hot place to live on the East Coast?
Since [I became mayor in] 1992, Philadelphia’s had great leadership in government and really great leadership on the corporate side, too. When I was running for mayor, people told me, ‘Oh, don’t run for mayor, the corporations will never do anything to help.’ But we’ve had great leadership from them. The people of Philadelphia are pretty resilient. once the ball started rolling, everyone was able to push it along.