Democrats: Evolve or Die
Insanity is doing the same thing, and expecting ...
All signs indicate that Zohran Mamdani is going to be elected mayor of New York City ten days from now. He swept the primary, got a whole new generation of New Yorkers excited about politics, and has a bunch of bold new ideas.
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However, some members of the old guard of the Democratic Party are unwilling to accept him, including people like 78-year-old Hillary Clinton and 79-year-old Bill, and even U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, 84, who, surprise surprise, never thought Joe Biden was too old. They are all endorsing Andrew Cuomo, the 67-year-old former governor who resigned following sexual harassment charges, and who badly lost the Democratic mayoral primary to Mamdani and then decided to run as an independent.
You just have to wonder if these three are planning to apply for a patent on how to keep losing elections. Does anyone remember how Clinton, thanks to aloofness, arrogance, and unwillingness to take advice threw away the 2016 election?
Someone also ought to tell the supposedly savvy former President, no stranger to sex scandal, that the optics aren’t good.
Now, there are legitimate reasons to have concerns about Mamdani. Not because he’s been more critical of Israel than AIPAC would like, or even that he’s a self-proclaimed Democratic socialist. My worry is that he is a very junior legislator who, if he wins, will be the top decision-maker in an extremely complex state, a place whose annual budget is something like $116 billion. He’ll need a fast learning curve.
I don’t think all of Mamdani’s ideas will work, either, though I would love to see him win on rent control and higher minimum wage. But I’d vote for him.
That’s because Democrats badly need new faces and new ideas and a hell of a lot more energy. I’ve seen well-embalmed corpses look more alive than Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Two days ago, the would-be-autocrat Donald Trump had an entire wing of the White House destroyed, approved drilling for oil in the Arctic wildlife refuge and said he wouldn’t ask for anyone’s permission or advice when he blows up boats that may or may not belong to drug smugglers. All in the same day. Did any Democrats on their leadership team scream and yell or face the bulldozers with their bodies?
Hell, no.
By the way, a personal note. You might think I would be inclined to endorse Cuomo. I am 73 and live in a largely Jewish world. I have also been accused of harassment, and learned just how hard it is to defend oneself when that happens. I also think Cuomo may not have been guilty of that, though he is about as abrasive and obnoxious as they come.
But people — we need new leaders and new ideas. I’ve had other old guard Democrats tell me the way to retake the presidency is to nominate the 60-something governor of Illinois, who is a billionaire, about 75 pounds overweight and who just won $1.4 million gambling.
Yeah, that’s the exciting new look America needs. Keep your eyes on AOC, former Mayor Pete, more recently of Secretary of Transportation fame, and yes, Gavin Newsom. Whatever else their assets, none of them think this is 1978. Which is a start.
Otto von Bismarck, who was behind the reunification of Germany. Bismarck famously said that “politics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best.”
The economist Kenneth Galbraith expressed a more negative view of political pragmatism when he said, “Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.”
Hillary Clinton spoke passionately against the idea of pragmatism in politics, saying, “we feel that for too long our leaders have viewed politics as the art of the possible. And the challenge now is to practice politics as the art of making what appears to be impossible possible.”
The lesser of two evils has been our real choice for a long time. People who feel that there is no difference between the two parties have put us where we are today.
My fever dream ticket at the moment would be AOC, Jasmine Crocket, Pete. Pick two.
I'm with you all the way. Bernie Sanders would likely have beat Trump had the Dem National Committee not stepped in to anoint Hilary - despite the crowds Bernie drew and the excitement he generated among younger voters. Voters want someone who will address the high cost of living, who will take on the moneyed class, who will fix the quotidian problems Americans face daily. Mamdani, like him or not, has at least promised to work on behalf of average New Yorkers.