DeBlasio has made some serious errors in judgment. The snow-day-that-wasn't is a sideshow, but his being caught flat-footed by Moskowitz is a big deal; he and the public schools were badly hurt by it.
Sad as it is, he's probably the best we're going to see for quite a while, in that he doesn't want to see us eating cat food in a ditch somewhere. That sets him apart from most of the people we're dealing with in education, and counts as "progress."
I never expected that much from him, but I also think we have an interest in at least not joining Moskowitz, Cuomo, Murdoch and Zuckerman in piling on him.
I don't know if he "deserves" our critical support, but for the time being I'm not sure we have that much choice. The alternatives to DeBlasio, Moskowitz in particular, are pretty sickening.
If nothing else, this whole episode of "Mayoral Control Is Only In Effect If It Helps Charters" shows that its one thing to be mayor, and quite another to control the government.
As usual, Michael makes salient points.
I left a comment at Accountable Talk a while back that addresses my biggest frustration with de Blasio:
I defended de Blasio over the fake snow plow UES crisis the Post ginned up and against the Eva nonsense at Perdido Street School blog.
The problem is, de Blasio and his people have no coherent pushback strategy against the bullshit they're getting hit with.
Given that BdB ran Hillary Clinton's campaign, he ought to know that if you take on the corporate overlords over charter schools, tax increases and the like, they're not going to like that and they're going to go at you.
Yet somehow the de Blasio people seem surprised at the vehemence with which the Murdoch and Zuckerman papers have gone after him, the way the TV stations have gone after him, the way Cuomo and Eva went after him.
I'd be happy to defend this guy for the right reasons, but until he starts to defending himself effectively, it's all for nought.
BTW, I'm over the snow thing. That's not a big deal, Bloomberg would have had us come in to. The thing that bothered me about the whole mess was HOW de Blasio and Farina tried to defend it. They took what was a problem and made it worse with an ineffectual pushback (Macy's is open...it's a beautiful day...) And that's what's most frustrating to me - there are times when it seems like he fell off a turnip truck, brushed himself off and got right into politics without actually learning how to do it.
I maintain that if de Blasio doesn't get more savvy in how he handles the media, Cuomo, Eva, the plutocrats and all the rest of the enemies he has coming at him (and make no mistake, they are ALL enemies out to get him), nothing we do or say to defend him will matter much.
Last week some in the media tried to blame the Harlem gas explosion on de Blasio, reporting that he hadn't appointed a full time Buildings Commissioner yet and the one he has is a Bloomberg holdover.
That meme didn't stick because it's difficult to see how a newly appointed de Blasio Buildings Commissioner would have helped avert the explosion, but it's not like they're not trying to gin up at least one anti-de Blasio controversy a week there in the press.
I'm hoping as the weeks go on and de Blasio and the people around him get more comfortable, they'll get better at pushing back against this garbage and tamping down the fake controversies before they get blown out proportion.
All I can say is, they had better or otherwise they - and we - are in for a long four years of fake UES snow controversies and phony wars against charters.
Hey...the difference between havin"the media" with or against u is this...remember when Bloomberg , I think during Sandy, or so e other disaster, told the public "to go see a Broadway play." It wasn't hammered home to John Q Public on every news outlet for a month, except for us. It was noted more or less in a blurb, because the wouldn't dare criticize King Michael. Also, again, when Eva went back on the charter issue...she was Still hammered as a "flip flopper". I don't think "the media" was as cutthroat when he ran Hillary-he at least had great "media" support in certain camps. Here in NYC and nationally...it's a killing field....how do u handle that if u are DeB and Farina. This is a,gauntlet.
ReplyDeleteYup, I agree. Still, would help if he had some pro's to handle the media. Saw some reporter on Twitter say that his press shop is so amateur, they were hoping the Spitzer woman would come back and work for BdB.
DeleteI meant "when Carmen reversed on that charter issue"
ReplyDeleteI'm saying DeB is already dazed by this flurry of punches...and In serious trouble...and probably waiting for this first round to end to get to his corner. Without any support from his corner...how long will this fight go...? I don't hear any suggestions from anyone here how he can get the publics ear back.
ReplyDeleteGoing to have some advice for de Blasio later tonight on the pre-K issue now that we know Cuomo is already looking to cut the state funds allotted for NYC pre-K and afterschool programs. Post will be up later.
DeleteHe's probably doing the only thing he can at this,point...clamming up and figuring out what the hell to do next...
ReplyDeleteI like Melissa Mark-Viverito's twitter attack on Cuomo. I like Letitia James support on progressive policies. I think out of the election spotlight, John Liu can help de Blasio, too. He does need to shore up a team to do battle with the media to prove the public supports his policies. He needs to gain back progressive ground that Bloomberg usurped and destroyed. He landslided the election, he needs to take chances and make decisions with conviction.
ReplyDeleteElection landslide had as much to do w/ the quality of the opposition (I always said Lhota was an unelectable schmuck and that's just how it turned out) as BdB and his policies. Don't misread the results. There was no progressive mandate in the election, there was a city sick of Bloomberg but not so sick of him that he still wasn't hovering over 50% in approval.
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