Sorry, De Blasio, You’re No Lenin: Jim Epstein in The Daily Beast

I have a new piece up at The Daily Beast on yesterday’s
inauguration ceremony for New York City’s new mayor. Here’s an
excerpt:

Bill de Blasio, Gotham’s 109th mayor, was sworn in at an event
that left pundits of all political stripes aghast at the strident rhetoric of rich
versus poor—not to mention one speaker’s headline-grabbing
comparison of modern New York City to a slave plantation. The tone
and message were familiar to anyone who has frequented New York
City Council meetings over the past twelve years, where
cringe-worthy grandstanding and wildly inappropriate comparisons to
the country’s history of enforced servitude are commonplace. But
this sort of talk has rarely gotten a mainstream airing—which is
what happens when a time-server from the city’s political
establishment finds his way into Gracie Mansion.

In his inaugural speech, de Blasio promised to make good on his
campaign promise of solving New York’s “inequality crisis.” Twice
he name-checked Fiorello La Guardia, New York’s celebrated 99th
mayor, who, though de Blasio didn’t mention it, famously quipped
that there’s “no Democratic or Republican way of cleaning the
streets.” This often-quoted line encapsulates the sound wisdom that
the job of a mayor is to manage the complex workings of urban life:
pick up the garbage, fix the potholes, and guard the coffers. In
his speech,
de Blasio affirmed that his main interest is in re-engineering New
York’s social order.

Read the whole thing.