With regard to "The optimistic case for a Mamdani administration is that it will actually be the Brad Lander administration: that Mamdani will hire Lander basically to be his Dick Cheney, the guy who runs things behind the scenes while Mamdani focuses on the theatrical side of politics."
Not sure if you have read Ross Barkan's takes on Mamdani, who was his campaign manager back in 2018, but I don't get the sense that Mamdani will be anything but hands on:
My optimistic take is a little different. I think it will be incredibly beneficial to have a smart and competent leftist like Mamdani actually in charge of running things rather than opining from a position of prominence without responsibility like Sanders and AOC. While I'm tremendously skeptical of rent control, government run grocery stores, and free transit as a way to deliver prosperity, it's probably valuable to have someone give it a shot and prove it one way or another. And I think Mamdani's conversation with Derek Thompson and relative embrace of Abundance (https://derekthompson.substack.com/p/what-speaks-to-me-about-abundance), at least for a leftist, is a sign that he may be willing to be pragmatic and pivot if it becomes clear his diagnosis of the problems and solutions aren't working. I believe that to make significant progress on Abundance happen, there will be need to be some real conflict with the labor unions and a leftist Democrat may be better positioned to actually do that successfully.
I get that take. I’m less sure that Mamdani is going to be as results-focused and detail-oriented as he claims mostly because of his thin record in Albany — but I’d be delighted to be proved wrong.
As for giving the progressive left accountability by giving them authority: sure! But we have tried a few experiments already — San Francisco, Chicago, even NYC with De Blasio. I’m not sure the result has been what you hope for (either success or a change in policy views).
But we’ll see! Mamdani is a different person — and purely as a political talent, pretty clearly extraordinary. That’s a valuable asset. We’ll see what he does with it.
With regard to "The optimistic case for a Mamdani administration is that it will actually be the Brad Lander administration: that Mamdani will hire Lander basically to be his Dick Cheney, the guy who runs things behind the scenes while Mamdani focuses on the theatrical side of politics."
Not sure if you have read Ross Barkan's takes on Mamdani, who was his campaign manager back in 2018, but I don't get the sense that Mamdani will be anything but hands on:
https://rosselliotbarkan.com/p/can-a-socialist-become-mayor
https://rosselliotbarkan.com/p/life-with-zohran
My optimistic take is a little different. I think it will be incredibly beneficial to have a smart and competent leftist like Mamdani actually in charge of running things rather than opining from a position of prominence without responsibility like Sanders and AOC. While I'm tremendously skeptical of rent control, government run grocery stores, and free transit as a way to deliver prosperity, it's probably valuable to have someone give it a shot and prove it one way or another. And I think Mamdani's conversation with Derek Thompson and relative embrace of Abundance (https://derekthompson.substack.com/p/what-speaks-to-me-about-abundance), at least for a leftist, is a sign that he may be willing to be pragmatic and pivot if it becomes clear his diagnosis of the problems and solutions aren't working. I believe that to make significant progress on Abundance happen, there will be need to be some real conflict with the labor unions and a leftist Democrat may be better positioned to actually do that successfully.
I get that take. I’m less sure that Mamdani is going to be as results-focused and detail-oriented as he claims mostly because of his thin record in Albany — but I’d be delighted to be proved wrong.
As for giving the progressive left accountability by giving them authority: sure! But we have tried a few experiments already — San Francisco, Chicago, even NYC with De Blasio. I’m not sure the result has been what you hope for (either success or a change in policy views).
But we’ll see! Mamdani is a different person — and purely as a political talent, pretty clearly extraordinary. That’s a valuable asset. We’ll see what he does with it.
The best response to the election that I’ve read
Well said, Noah