The problem with him is that he doesn't have principles, he changes he positions as he goes based on what the popular opinion is right now, the problem is that Popular is alot of times not really popular it's just a small vocal minority, or the idea is really bad and a politician needs to have courage to say no.
You can take defund the police for an example, it looked like it was popular last year except it wasn't, and it's a really bad idea, but he want along with it,
Now that crime is rising he's against it and is fully supporting the police.
People want to know for who they're voting for and what policies they're going to pursue.
As always a great article. I wanted to say something that never seems to get said: Why should people be grateful for universal pre-k? The only reason people need it is because one adult can no longer provide for an entire family. To me, universal pre-k is basically asking the middle class to produce the next generation of kids to be ruthlessly exploited, dump them off in a warehouse, and get back to work.
I'd rather have a livable minimum wage and a sky-high top income tax rate, back when a blue collar worker could afford to live in a brownstone in Park Slope.
These are fair points, but I am surprised the article doesn't reckon with DeBlasio's political strength within NYC--that he easily won re-election and could have been favored for a 3rd term if allowed to run. Strictly speaking, NYC voters are the ones he "delivered" for and they did reward him, in spite of how unlikable they may have found him as a person. Like most people I agree that he's markedly lacking in leadership qualities (charisma, integrity, competence). But I also think there might be something more unavoidably structural behind his unfavorability, having to do with (wisely) occupying the center of gravity among a voter base with a very broad ideological distribution. (He may be unliked by many but there's almost no way to unify that opposition). Not to mention navigating around super-powerful yet unpopular interest groups like real estate, finance, and the NYPD. And you're definitely right that his campaign for governor is dead in the water, but I suspect he would at least be more viable if there were ranked choice voting for state races.
The problem with him is that he doesn't have principles, he changes he positions as he goes based on what the popular opinion is right now, the problem is that Popular is alot of times not really popular it's just a small vocal minority, or the idea is really bad and a politician needs to have courage to say no.
You can take defund the police for an example, it looked like it was popular last year except it wasn't, and it's a really bad idea, but he want along with it,
Now that crime is rising he's against it and is fully supporting the police.
People want to know for who they're voting for and what policies they're going to pursue.
As always a great article. I wanted to say something that never seems to get said: Why should people be grateful for universal pre-k? The only reason people need it is because one adult can no longer provide for an entire family. To me, universal pre-k is basically asking the middle class to produce the next generation of kids to be ruthlessly exploited, dump them off in a warehouse, and get back to work.
I'd rather have a livable minimum wage and a sky-high top income tax rate, back when a blue collar worker could afford to live in a brownstone in Park Slope.
These are fair points, but I am surprised the article doesn't reckon with DeBlasio's political strength within NYC--that he easily won re-election and could have been favored for a 3rd term if allowed to run. Strictly speaking, NYC voters are the ones he "delivered" for and they did reward him, in spite of how unlikable they may have found him as a person. Like most people I agree that he's markedly lacking in leadership qualities (charisma, integrity, competence). But I also think there might be something more unavoidably structural behind his unfavorability, having to do with (wisely) occupying the center of gravity among a voter base with a very broad ideological distribution. (He may be unliked by many but there's almost no way to unify that opposition). Not to mention navigating around super-powerful yet unpopular interest groups like real estate, finance, and the NYPD. And you're definitely right that his campaign for governor is dead in the water, but I suspect he would at least be more viable if there were ranked choice voting for state races.