"There’s an old saw that you campaign in poetry and govern in prose"
Omitting any reference to the fact that this "old saw" is actually a quote from the father of Mamdani's chief opponent in the recent election must be quite humiliating to the Cuomo family.
How you spend money is very different from how much you spend. Many progressive policies are essentially free: liberalizing zoning, low traffic neighborhoods. Others, like congestion pricing and market rate parking meters generate substantial revenue. There's also plenty of room to shift spending from less progressive to more progressive policies. You can probably have a top notch police force without hemorrhaging money on overtime. Yes, a lot of Mamdani's policies are expensive, but many could be achieved in a less expensive way, and he's shown an openness to being pragmatic.
The key quote here, and really for a great deal of slow biring articles, is that no one can "catapult into progressive superstardom because it’s impossible to deliver on what progressives want". When you look at the left's heros, say Bernie, Warren, or AOC, they are never people who have actually delivered _results_, they are people who have delivered _speaches_ (e.g., to rallys). People who have delivered concrete results, like Clinton or Obama, are denigrated, because "the left only got 20% of what it wanted".
I never could understand the de Blasio hate. When I asked people - even very knowledgeable people about city politics - why they hated him, the answer was always something lame, like "he's a dork."
"Meanwhile, given all that, I think the N.Y.C. business community should be asking themselves why they lined up behind a candidate in Cuomo who did not promise anything resembling a strong-on-the-merits reform agenda."
You already answered that. Israel-Palestine politics. It's not just the left that's obsessed with it. It should be a matter of great shame that a great many American citizens think it's an important issue for all Americans. No, it's not. It'll never be.
I realize this is a small line in the piece, but, living in Oakland, I don't think it's fair to group Barbara Lee and Karen Bass together. Barbara Lee has been in office for less than 6 months while Karen Bass has spent the last three years capitulating to NIMBYs and being absent during times of crisis. To me, the jury's still out on Barbara Lee's term - upcoming decisions like the new police chief will help shed more light on where it's going.
Best analysis I’ve seen. Yes, De Blasio was an effective mayor.. but progressive expectations, which he set, as did Obama, of course disappointed .. is that bad ?
I think Matt is saying that in the end
Mamdani’s success will depend on whether he can deal with the effects of regulations and cost disease that make NYC so expensive.
That means taking on some normal democratic allies.
I'd like to take this moment to remember that Matt thought *Eric Adams* was the best candidate for mayor. Corrupt, woo-woo, not an honest bone in his body Eric Adams.
I'd predicted previously that the quickest way for a Mandami mayorship to go off the rails would be a crime spike. If he can avoid that, then it's kind of analogous to Trump in that a lot of the dumb policies he might try to implement might take a long time for an effect to occur. If he really goes gung ho with rent control, that's not going to blow up the rental market next week, it will be a slow burn. Meanwhile making transit free won't show up as a budgetary issue for a while but would show up as a crime issue if the number of crazy people on transit increase (although from what I understand, enforcement of transit fares is already lackadaisical). We'll see how this goes.
I love you Matt, but sometimes you just gotta celebrate a win. This dude is standing strong against ICE, racism, Islamophobia, and fascism/authoritarianism. Yes, the job of mayor is about unsexy stuff like trash delivery and schools and transit. He'll do fine on that stuff, IMO, but we'll see. The bigger thing you didn't mention is an important part of the slow boring of hard boards is belief, hope, gumption. He just injected a shot of all three to the cause.
"There’s an old saw that you campaign in poetry and govern in prose"
Omitting any reference to the fact that this "old saw" is actually a quote from the father of Mamdani's chief opponent in the recent election must be quite humiliating to the Cuomo family.
Zohran can’t fail …. 😎
How you spend money is very different from how much you spend. Many progressive policies are essentially free: liberalizing zoning, low traffic neighborhoods. Others, like congestion pricing and market rate parking meters generate substantial revenue. There's also plenty of room to shift spending from less progressive to more progressive policies. You can probably have a top notch police force without hemorrhaging money on overtime. Yes, a lot of Mamdani's policies are expensive, but many could be achieved in a less expensive way, and he's shown an openness to being pragmatic.
I simply have to tip hat to this clever insert "socialism in one city " which I imagine readers who didn't live in the era of Cold War will miss.
The key quote here, and really for a great deal of slow biring articles, is that no one can "catapult into progressive superstardom because it’s impossible to deliver on what progressives want". When you look at the left's heros, say Bernie, Warren, or AOC, they are never people who have actually delivered _results_, they are people who have delivered _speaches_ (e.g., to rallys). People who have delivered concrete results, like Clinton or Obama, are denigrated, because "the left only got 20% of what it wanted".
> A boring job, but someone’s got to do it
... [slowly]
I never could understand the de Blasio hate. When I asked people - even very knowledgeable people about city politics - why they hated him, the answer was always something lame, like "he's a dork."
Well a lot of people were mad about him going to YMCA
It’s a little too far to say that Israel is now a worse issue for the GOP than Democrats.
In our current social environment, I don't think anybody can win without massive overpromising. It's pretty hand in hand with "charisma".
"Meanwhile, given all that, I think the N.Y.C. business community should be asking themselves why they lined up behind a candidate in Cuomo who did not promise anything resembling a strong-on-the-merits reform agenda."
You already answered that. Israel-Palestine politics. It's not just the left that's obsessed with it. It should be a matter of great shame that a great many American citizens think it's an important issue for all Americans. No, it's not. It'll never be.
I realize this is a small line in the piece, but, living in Oakland, I don't think it's fair to group Barbara Lee and Karen Bass together. Barbara Lee has been in office for less than 6 months while Karen Bass has spent the last three years capitulating to NIMBYs and being absent during times of crisis. To me, the jury's still out on Barbara Lee's term - upcoming decisions like the new police chief will help shed more light on where it's going.
Best analysis I’ve seen. Yes, De Blasio was an effective mayor.. but progressive expectations, which he set, as did Obama, of course disappointed .. is that bad ?
I think Matt is saying that in the end
Mamdani’s success will depend on whether he can deal with the effects of regulations and cost disease that make NYC so expensive.
That means taking on some normal democratic allies.
I'd like to take this moment to remember that Matt thought *Eric Adams* was the best candidate for mayor. Corrupt, woo-woo, not an honest bone in his body Eric Adams.
"Yes, I gotta work hard, honey. Daddy made a lot of "crazy promises."
- Homer Simpson
I'd predicted previously that the quickest way for a Mandami mayorship to go off the rails would be a crime spike. If he can avoid that, then it's kind of analogous to Trump in that a lot of the dumb policies he might try to implement might take a long time for an effect to occur. If he really goes gung ho with rent control, that's not going to blow up the rental market next week, it will be a slow burn. Meanwhile making transit free won't show up as a budgetary issue for a while but would show up as a crime issue if the number of crazy people on transit increase (although from what I understand, enforcement of transit fares is already lackadaisical). We'll see how this goes.
I love you Matt, but sometimes you just gotta celebrate a win. This dude is standing strong against ICE, racism, Islamophobia, and fascism/authoritarianism. Yes, the job of mayor is about unsexy stuff like trash delivery and schools and transit. He'll do fine on that stuff, IMO, but we'll see. The bigger thing you didn't mention is an important part of the slow boring of hard boards is belief, hope, gumption. He just injected a shot of all three to the cause.