The new most powerful mayor in America has a lot of expectations to live up to. Here’s a few more.
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People on the left wing—not a moderate that Glenn Beck thinks is a Maoist, but the left wing—can only find political kinship with a handful of Democrats. Senator Elizabeth Warren is an obvious example, for her battles against corruption in the financial sector; as is former Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich, for his never-ending fight against the ill-fated wars of the early 2000s. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was inaugurated yesterday after a hard-fought primary win against several other high-profile candidates and a blowout on election night of former Giuliani lieutenant and cat lover Joe Lhota, spoke extensively of progressive reforms during the campaign, and continued this line of rhetoric yesterday in his inauguration speech:
But, what makes today so special isn’t just my family, but our larger New York family. Yes I am borrowing from Governor Cuomo, our family of New York. We see what binds all New Yorkers together: an understanding that big dreams are not a luxury reserved for a privileged few, but the animating force behind every community, in every borough.
Don’t like ads? Become a supporter and enjoy The Good Men Project ad freeThe spark that ignites our unwavering resolve to do everything possible to ensure that every girl and boy, no matter what language they speak, what subway line they ride, what neighborhood they call home — that every child has the chance to succeed.
We recognize a city government’s first responsibilities: to keep our neighborhoods safe; to keep our streets clean; to ensure that those who live here – and those who visit – can get where they need to go in every boroughs. But we know that our mission reaches deeper. We are called to put an end to economic and social inequalities that threaten to unravel the city we love. And so today, we commit to a new progressive direction in New York. And that same progressive impulse has written our city’s history. It’s in our DNA.
Bill de Blasio is a Democrat in the mold of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a true blue liberal who wants to tackle big issues like poverty and racial inequality head-on. But first, he’ll have to learn how to balance his position as a star of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party with the realities of his new job.
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Recently, the national media has been on a kick of writing articles about what a new politician can learn from a past politician; the more far apart and downright weird the comparison, the better. POLITICO Magazine has a new article in this same vein from historian Edward Kohn about de Blasio and all-around badass Theodore Roosevelt. While it’s a great historical perspective and a very interesting read, the only problem is that Roosevelt, despite his many achievements, was unable to live to see his 155th birthday, and died in 1919. So, seeing as how me and Teddy share about the same amount of knowledge when it comes to running America’s most populous city in 2013, here’s some unsolicited advice for New York’s new mayor:
1. Learn from the inevitable mistakes that come with being at the top of an administration for the first time. There’s a reason that the vast majority of presidents elected since 1900 have had some experience at the top of an administration – whether as a Vice President, governor, or military general. That’s because the experience of being at the top is an experience that simply can’t be replicated, even with decades of legislative experience. You have to use these failures as a learning experience, and really, as the nation’s most powerful municipal official, what’s to stop you from calling Bill Clinton or former boss David Dinkins to ask for advice?
2. Dress for the job you have, not the job you want. That annoying bit of advice that you got from your boss at the job you worked during the summers in high school has not been lost on any of the early Republican contenders for 2016, and the amount of blatant posturing in Iowa and New Hampshire is damn near unreal. There’s a snowball’s chance in hell that you would run against former boss Hillary Clinton, and it’s damn-near irresponsible to speculate on whether or not you even want that job, but if your first year is a success, expect the media to, at the very least, talk about your prospects in either post-Cuomo Albany or in Washington as either a member of Congress or a Cabinet head. I’m sure I don’t have to reiterate this, but ignore it. People are tired of politicians who just want to move up the ladder, so much so that someone who goes out of their way to stay on the same rung will stand out as a person who’s, you know, actually doing their job.
3. Listen to yourself. Your narrative is completely unique in modern day politics, and is also completely unique in the sense that only in the liberal bastion of 21st century New York City can running against the legacy of a three-term mayor who was praised by national media for “fiscal responsibility” be a winnable strategy. But this strategy did work. In large part, it worked because you spoke not only to powerful, rich Manhattanite donors, but also those in the most impoverished areas of the city. Above all, you must listen to yourself and what got you there. Because when you’re at City Hall at 3 AM trying to get a budget passed or dealing with a crisis, you’re going to be learning on the job. Not from Elizabeth Warren, Michael Bloomberg, or even Teddy Roosevelt.
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Credit: Photo—Frank Franklin/AP