Mam endorses Mom?

No one I respect would prefer Andrew Cuomo over Kathy Hochul. I don’t say that as a reason to support Hochul. I am setting an outer limit on how bad a candidate the Democratic Party has picked for NY State Governor. “Hochul is better than two-time loser Cuomo” is meant as information, not an endorsement.

I did not endorse “One Tough Mother” Hochul. But Zohran Mamdani did.

I haven’t been writing, so I haven’t been writing about Zohran. I’m not starting there. Rather, I’m watching, reacting, and commenting on what others say about him. Forget the NY Post and the crazy right wing. Of course they hate him. Or The New York Times and the Cuomo democrats, leaning on him to abandon his principles one day and rooting for his failure the next. I am more curious about the people who supported Mamdani for Mayor (and I am in that group).

Zohran and Schools (so far)

I was actually worried early on that he was not paying much attention to schools. I proposed the slogan “Fast and Free Public Schools” – catchy, but meaningless, but it would have placed schools in his regular banter. There was no interest. And we saw what played out – as soon as he won, he dropped his opposition to Mayoral Control of our public schools. And he appointed a very nice status quo Schools Chancellor.

Why bring up education? Because of how his supporters reacted. And remember, I am around some of his supporters who have strong interest in what happens with the New York City Board of Education, or whatever it is called today. And some of them were livid. Outraged. Kamar Samuels was business as usual. And the reversal on Mayoral Control was a betrayal. ZM supporters wanted to denounce ZM? And some of his supporters not only forgave him, but made excuses. They dug a couple of small favorable things out of Samuels’ record and claimed he was a great choice (just, no). They made excuses for keeping Mayoral Control.

Me? I think ZM made a bad pick for Chancellor, but not terrible. Of those who had been trained in Bloomberg/Klein’s Department of Education, Samuels was one of the stronger possible picks. But he was trained in Bloomberg/Klein’s school reform, market-oriented, data-driven department. KS is not purely status quo. But he’s pretty close to it. And on Mayoral Control? That was a bad deal. He disappointed supporters. He was looking right in the face of making real systemic change, and he chose not to. Honestly, I don’t think he was ready to. Remember, no focus on education through his entire campaign. So here I am disagreeing with Zohran’s two biggest moves on education. I’m not pretending his mistakes are brilliant. But I am also not denouncing him for making bad decisions.

Zohran and Change

Zohran Mamdani will get some real change for us. This business with childcare? Huge. Absolutely huge. And there will be more. And he ran a brilliant campaign. But that does not make him a brilliant politician. He will get some big things right. He already has. But he will do things that are wrong. He already has.

One idea that’s worth considering, at each step of the way – comes from baseball stats – “Wins with Replacement” – how would the team have done with an average player instead of the one they’ve got – and specifically how many more or fewer wins would they have. In other words, not “is Volpe a good shortstop?” but “how many more games would the Yankees have won with a hypothetical MLB-average shortstop?” And the parallel question – for each move Mamdani makes, good or bad, what would that sad SAC – Sliwa, Adams, or Cuomo – have done? Put the Kamar Samuels choice in that context – and it should be clear why I criticize without condemning.

Part of Zohran’s presence, a benefit of having “Mayor Mamdani,” is the space he creates. No, he will not do everything I want him to, or that any activists want him to (I write “activist” but assume you know I mean “progressive activist”). But his presence makes it far easier for us to organize. Expectations are up, true. And while some will wait for Zohran to do it for us, more already know or will come to realize, we still need to act for ourselves – but today we get to do it with an ally, maybe a bit inconsistent here and there, but genuinely an ally, in City Hall. And when he is not there for us, he will make it easier for us to be there for us.

So what about the Hochul endorsement?

I already know, some people are furious. Others are disappointed. Hell, I bet some are pleased.

There are people who like Kathy Hochul, a lot. I’m not talking about them, not now.

There are people who like Antonio Delgado, a lot. I’m confused by them. Sure, Delgado says a lot of progressive stuff today. But that’s part of his campaign. Has he been an activist? No. Did he do anything special in Congress? No. He was best known for always voting “the right” way. And not speaking. When Zohran ran, he had a thin legislative record, too. Except the one thing he did, free buses, was signature. And the campaign he was part of, the hunger strike against medallion debt. Delgado got anything like either of those? Being loyal and quiet doesn’t count.

There are people who thought that the endorsement was brilliant, that now she owes him. I’ve got something to say about that, further down.

Look, Hochul was going to win. Doesn’t mean he has to endorse her. But he also needs Hochul to move on several of his major issues. Revenue is key. Tax the rich? Or get the money from somewhere else? Mamdani isn’t going to roll over Hochul, so he’ll need her to move on this, so he can move his agenda. And for anyone outraged over Mamdani endorsing Hochul, think about Mamdani’s agenda, and Hochul’s power, and relax.

I figured, way out, that as a practical matter, Hochul was the odds on favorite and Delgado was uninspiring. Only question, in my mind, first for the WFP, then after he became odds on favorite for mayor, for Zohran Mamdani, was what was the best deal they could trade for that endorsement. Hochul was the favorite, is the favorite, but even a favorite does not want the risk of a primary, the distraction of a primary, the cost of a primary. She knew that. Zohran knew that.

Now I worried a little. Zohran ran an impressive campaign. But he’s already been caught asleep by Julie Mennin, and lost track of education before he started. So the power part of politics? Would he know how to play hardball?

So that’s where I leave this. Zohran didn’t play hardball on this one. Not a good negotiation. He already had childcare promised. It was his chance to get more, and instead he got future consideration, which might be something, and might be nothing. I’m not a big fan of the endorsement because I’m not a big fan of Hochul. But it was sort of inevitable, and so I’m not terribly worked up about it either. I am not annoyed that Zohran endorsed Hochul. I’m annoyed that he didn’t get anything for it. For us.