Bloomberg, Buttigieg and the Rise of Mayors - Seib

[question everything]

The hottest Democratic presidential candidate right now is Pete Buttigieg, and the newest one, at least potentially, is Michael Bloomberg. They don’t have much in common. They are separated in age by four decades, in hometowns by 700 miles, and in personal wealth by billions of dollars. But they do share this important trait: experience as American mayors. Mr. Buttigieg leads the midsize city of South Bend, Ind., and Mr. Bloomberg spent three terms as mayor of the megalopolis of New York City.

In fact, the Democratic presidential field has included five current or former mayors, and Mr. Bloomberg, should he decide in coming days to launch a candidacy, would make it six. That isn’t a coincidence. With the federal government in something approaching paralysis, leading a city actually may be a better proving ground for showing you can get things done. “As a mayor, I concluded that a major shift was happening. The national government was in retreat and cities were emerging as the new power centers filling the void,” former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel writes in a forthcoming book, “The Nation City.”

(snip)

In fact, members of Congress and President Trump will congratulate one another this month if they simply manage to pass, belatedly, a stopgap funding measure that prevents the federal government from shutting down on Nov. 21. That now passes for an achievement in Washington. By contrast, mayors don’t have the luxury of dysfunction. They have to work with a city council to pass budgets on time, tackle education and housing problems in full view of those affected by them and, increasingly, fix broken pieces of the American infrastructure that the federal government ignores. The federal budget is running almost a trillion dollars a year in the red. Over time the federal budget will consist mostly of spending on servicing the accumulated federal debt, funding the Pentagon and paying for health care and retirement programs. The rest of the country’s needs? Increasingly they are left to cities and states to figure out.

Which is why a record as a mayor, once considered irrelevant to the task of leading the nation, seems more relevant today... As mayor, the Emanuel's book notes, Mr. Bloomberg turned a large city budget deficit into a surplus, set up a new tech center, crusaded against guns and gun violence on the streets, forged public-private partnerships to tackle civic and education problems and set up an international conference of mayors to address climate change at the city level. He was a fiscal conservative and social progressive.

Mr. Buttigieg led a program to demolish or repair swaths of vacant or unsightly homes and buildings to revitalize neighborhoods, remodeled the city’s downtown and instituted paid family leave for city employees. Politically speaking, one of the problems a mayor has is that his or her personal governing record is on open display, controversies and warts as well as accomplishments. And that presents problems for both Messrs. Bloomberg and Buttigieg.

More..

https://www.wsj.com/articles/bloomberg-buttigieg-and-the-rise-of-mayors-11573481025 (paid subscription)

[Renew Deal]

1. Buttiigieg is doing well because of message, not bio

And Bloomberg isn't really even running.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Pete Buttigieg did have problems with his plans for the city...

Especially with the 1000 homes in 1000 days.

I want to point out that after he found out how his ideas were received (not well) he listened and learned from his critics. This is an important feature. Learning from his mistakes allows him room to grow in.

I am sure he will do the same at the federal level, should he be given the chance.

[question everything]

3. Right. More asset than liability

concludes the article

Mr. Buttigieg’s program for tearing down buildings in blighted areas was criticized by some black and Hispanic leaders as a heavy-handed effort that displaced their citizens to gentrify South Bend neighborhoods. His decision early in his term to fire the city’s African-American police chief and his handling of the shooting of a black man by a white police officer both have cost him support among Democratic minority voters.

As that suggests, mayors cannot hide from either problems or their own decisions. At a time when Washington too often seems detached from the real work, that ultimately may be more political asset than liability.