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 all
it the unmaking of a mayoral candidate.
I have just sent Mike Long a
letter declining to run for mayor
of New York City on the conservative line. It was a tempting offer,
and my heart said "yes," even as my head said "no." But I reluctantly
concluded that my time and energy would be better spent writing
and editing rather than trying to boost my turnout on Staten Island.
Conditions in our politics today are radically different than they
were when Bill Buckley ran in 1965. Back then, the liberal Republican
candidate John Lindsay represented — indeed embodied —
a left-ward trend in the national GOP. Exposing him helped change
the course of national politics. Mike Bloomberg, on the other hand,
represents no national trend — he's just an aberration (but,
boy, what an aberration!).
The lackluster nature of the current mayoral field is a uniquely
New York problem. Because of various powerful interests and a stale
political orthodoxy, the city is trapped in a time warp. It has
yet to move beyond the New Deal, let alone the Great Society. Rudy
Giuliani achieved his successes by punching through this liberal
status quo. But no one is willing to pick up on those successes.
It's as if millennia ago some enterprising individual had invented
fire, only to see his innovation ignored and humankind go dark again.
A common-sense agenda for New York would focus on defending Giuliani's
progress on crime by continuing his aggressive stop-and-frisk policies;
on modernizing the economy by cutting taxes and spending; on reforming
the failing public-school system by introducing competitive measures
and taming the teachers' union; and on fighting illegitimacy by
ending the city's blasé nonjudgmentalism on the matter.
This last may be the most important issue facing the city, since
crime and the failing schools are so closely related to it. But
New York's cultural and business elites are unwilling to address
it because they hate the idea of sexual continence in their own
lives (Bloomberg is a perfect example of this problem).
Even if I won't be making the race myself, I did get a glimpse into
the life of a politician during my brief flirtation with a candidacy.
As far as I can tell, there are three main influences on a politician:
Egomania. In an early NY1 interview, I was struck by how
different it is appearing on TV as a potential candidate. As a pundit,
you can be detached and skeptical. As a candidate, suddenly everything
is personal, about your ideas and your chances. Running
for office must be a constant invitation to self-obsession (and
one that most politicians accept).
Selling Out. Shortly after the mayoral speculation began,
a woman stopped me in my apartment building to ask if I were going
to run. It turned out that she was that rarity, a right-wing Manhattanite.
But soon enough she was asking me what I thought of rent control.
I tried to dodge, saying I needed to study the issue further. She
pressed me, then said she'd never vote for me if I wanted to end
rent control since she lived in a rent-controlled apartment. Watching
perhaps my only vote in Manhattan disappear, I immediately told
her that any solution would have to grandfather in current residents
of rent-controlled apartments. So there I was, about 48 hours into
my mayoral flirtation, already selling out. The temptation to tell
people what they want to hear is just extremely powerful, especially
if you want their support.
Dissembling. I decided about a week ago not to run, but would
say I hadn't decided yet whenever I was asked, because I still needed
to inform several people privately first. This represented, of course,
an entirely understandable, and very minor, evasion. But I imagine
it's a slippery slope once you get out of the habit of telling the
truth just as a matter of reflex. For most politicians, there must
always be a good excuse for not coming clean.
In short, politics is nasty (if important) business. Better to stand
on the outside of this particular tent. So, I am deeply appreciative
of Mike Long — and all the others who wrote and called —
who had the confidence in me to urge me to jump in the race. But
I am equally appreciative of all those who urged me not to.
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