Unpopular Front for Zohran
My First Endorsement
Am I joining the bandwagon quite late? Yes, admittedly. Does my endorsement matter? No, it does not. Do I think Zohran Mamdani’s ambitious policies will be implemented and work if they are? Probably not. Governing is difficult. As Andrew Cuomo’s much more honorable dad once said, “Campaign in poetry, govern in prose…” I understand that Mamdani’s poetry of campaigning, like his rapping, is a tad bit corny for some. But this is still a democracy, and we are therefore subject to popular tastes. Mamdani, unlike Cuomo or Trump, may be popular, but he is not vulgar. He has also run a campaign that is pragmatic, strategic, and canny, good signs that his prose may be even better than his poetry. I know Mamdani foreswore the idea of a moral victory as hollow, but his success thus far in challenging the forces of political cynicism, despair, and stagnation is still laudable. The politics of national despair needs figures like Cuomo to become the default setting. Then figures like Trump can present themselves as alternatives. They represent almost identical brands of sleaze and corruption. Mamdani, for all his supposed naivety or untestedness, does not represent those things; he hopes to represent something else, something new and something that I think is good at its heart. Of all the candidates on offer, Mamdani is the most American: he best embodies Lincoln’s call for a “new birth of freedom.” Where that freedom will end, we can’t know, but sometimes, a new beginning is worth trying in itself.
Idk too much about the campaign, but I do appreciate Mamdani’s embrace of housing liberalization as a beautiful synthesis of abundance and the Left. The response from the YIMBYs is really telling. The bulk of them (including Yglesias) have endorsed Mandani over Cuomo, even if they rank others before Mamdani. They are a coalitional cheap date, particularly the more left-leaning ones (who I’d count myself among). You can buy yourself a lot of goodwill without spending a dollar if you’re willing to legalize apartments. Something people should consider before manning the ramparts against Ezra Klein.
I agree some of his schemes seem pretty wacky and imprudent/impossible but he seems like a nice young man especially next to the ghoulish Cuomo. My politics are a lot more technocratic than Mamdani’s, but kooky-idealistic-leftist brings something valuable to the table in a way that suburb-cretin-centrism doesn’t.
I guess because he’s not Cuomo I understand the endorsement (and this is beautifully written) but I really don’t understand why Lander hasn’t received more attention. In my mind perhaps Mamdani does have a very American quality, which is style over substance (very evident from the details of his proposals). Is it really too much to ask that, popular tastes aside, that a candidate be judged not on how cool he or his wife is but their realistic vision?