Mayor Greg Nickels rolled out a 12-page agenda today for his next four years at City Hall, assuming he gets reelected, an increasingly dicey forecast. His first goal in front of reporters was clear: make them forget that, by all metrics, he is devastatingly unpopular for an incumbent. Standing in the Northwest African American Museum in front of 22 supporters—as if to augment his devastating poll numbers of 24 percent support—Nickels attempted to shift the debate to the things he has done right. “My goals are rooted in what I have accomplished in the last eight years,” he said, reading from a script at the lectern.

Nickels slapped himself on the back for pushing the Sound Transit line and said the next legs of track would be constructed on time (to Roosevelt by 2020). He vowed to maintain the overall low crime rates and cut youth violence (which has recently spiked despite the overall drop) in half, and he promised to bring home more fat off the stimulus hog.

Here were some of his other promises:

• Build a streetcar line on First Hill and Capitol Hill, and begin working on a third streetcar line (but he didn't specify where)

• Provide $1 million per project to neighborhood groups that will convert shuttered school buildings into community centers

• Build 1,000 electric car charging stations

• Create over 100 acres of parks and open space

• Promote small businesses by raising the threshold for business and occupation taxes from $80,000 to $100,000

• Push anti-poverty programs and create build more affordable housing by implementing the housing levy (assuming voters pass it)

“I have made my share of mistakes and my opponents will never tire of pointing them out,” said Nickels, adding, “None of them has offered a positive vision for the city. Thus far we have only heard potshots and platitudes.” When asked to name his “mistakes,” Nickels described failing to include bicycle and pedestrian accommodations when the city repaved Westlake Avenue near Lake Union. That was his only mistake, apparently; he didn’t name any others.

However, today mayoral contender Joe Mallahan blamed Nickels for failing to fire SDOT Director Grace Crunican for poor management and shirking accountability for cost overruns. "Strong leaders need to hold people accountable and Mayor Nickels is not holding people accountable," Mallahan said in a statement issued minutes before the news conference. Nickels brushed off problems at the transportation department, saying, "If humans are involved in a project, mistakes will get made."

While Nickels’s goals are adequate, the overarching question is whether he can do them more effectively than someone new. A mayor’s job is not just to have plans, but to have deposited an escrow of goodwill—and Nickels is tapped out—to get results by working with people. It’s not clear that he has a plan to fill that account in the next four years, nor did he do it today. By twice accusing the other candidates in the race of taking potshots, he is, ironically, guilty of the same.