The story goes that in 1972, the late Chinese Prime Minister Chou En-Lai, a student of history, when asked what he thought has been the historic impact of the 1789 French Revolution, replied this way:
"It's too soon to tell."
By the same token, it is probably too soon to tell how effective John Nader has been in his one term as mayor of the city of Oneonta.
His accomplishments and failures will come into greater focus when the fruits of his efforts are harvested in the years to come.
When Nader took office four years ago, some of us who closely follow government issues were concerned about whether he would have sufficient time to do the job right.
After all, he was the dean of liberal arts and sciences at the State University College of Technology at Delhi, and that _ unlike the mayor's post _ was a heavy-duty full-time job in itself.
But Nader turned out to be indefatigable. He seemed to be at every major and minor event in which a mayor's presence might be required, and he did his work at SUNY Delhi well enough to be promoted to provost.
It is the workload of that post that led him to decide not to run for a second term in last month's election _ one he most assuredly would have won easily.
Like all other politicians, Nader has his supporters and detractors, but no one could accurately accuse him of being lazy.
"John and I had our differences," said Fourth Ward Alderman Michael Lynch, who has often butted heads with the mayor during Common Council meetings, "but I always appreciated how hard John works."
The relationship between the mayor and the only daily newspaper serving the city was also not without its contentious episodes.
Nader has not been shy about taking issue with Daily Star stories. On the other hand, he always returned phone calls by reporters and did his best to answer questions important to our readers.
Nader's tenure will be judged on how the former Bresee's complex helps downtown's economy and how the changes he made in the city's bureaucracy pan out.
We do not blame Nader for the recent police department scandal, but we wish he had actively pursued a much-needed outside investigation of the total operation of the department.
That task will be left to the next mayor, Richard Miller, who has stated his support for an inquiry.
Miller is inheriting a city government that runs rather smoothly, and for that he _ and we _ owe much to the efforts of John Nader.
