Mayor de Blasio, on Midwest Trip, Seeks to Lead a National Shift to the Left

[Ichingcarpenter]

Mayor de Blasio, on Midwest Trip, Seeks to Lead a National Shift to the Left


OMAHA — Mayor Bill de Blasio, dismayed by a Democratic Party that he believes has moved too slowly to embrace a populist platform, arrived in the Midwest on Wednesday with an audacious mission: leading the nation leftward.

On a two-day tour of Nebraska and Iowa — more than 1,200 miles from the New York City Hall where he has presided for 15 months — Mr. de Blasio is seeking to transcend his relative obscurity and jump-start a countrywide movement to promote liberal policies like raising taxes on the rich.

Already, the mayor’s effort is drawing scrutiny. His refusal this week to endorse the presidential candidacy of Hillary Rodham Clinton, his former boss, spurred criticism from more centrist Democrats, who questioned whether the mayor had earned the credibility to drive an insurgency within his party.

Mr. de Blasio’s aides did not anticipate the fierceness of the backlash to his comments about Mrs. Clinton, according to several people familiar with their thinking, but the episode underscored the notion that he could be positioned as the standard-bearer for the American left.

That is an image the mayor is keen to cultivate. A profile in Rolling Stone magazine is in the works. A forum for presidential candidates is being planned. The mayor will travel to Milwaukee and Washington this spring, and his aides are eyeing a West Coast trip to confer with liberal leaders in California......................................................


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/nyregion/mayor-de-blasio-on-midwest-trip-hopes-to-lead-a-national-shift-to-the-left.html?_r=0

[aspirant]

1. Is this a beginning

of a Presidential campaign?

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. I don't care .......... its his push to the left that matters right now

and his stance against our present corporate candidate.

[aspirant]

5. Last time I looked

his stance is a wait and see position on HRC, has that changed?

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. maybe this is his response

after getting attacked for not joining the scooby doo bandwagon.

[SoapBox]

11. LOL

The "bandwagon" is NOT going to allow any disparaging comments.

And those "centrists"...are those the old true centrists or the new ones, that are to the right of the old center?

[Enthusiast]

3. Good to hear it.

[dhill926]

4. certainly not the first mayor of NY....

to try and establish a national presence. Good luck to him...seems like a good guy.

[pscot]

7. Having someone positioned well to her left

establishes some boundaries and helps Hillary look like a Centrist. If politics were 'pick a number', the Republicans have already picked 10, which leaves Clinton a lot of elbow room on the left.

[calimary]

8. This is a good thing. This, and Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders - we need this.

I am still convinced that Hillary will be the nominee - but THIS is great. This will force her to lean to the left, too - if she wants to grab the base-voters who are going to be VERY easily wooed away by someone with a fiercer leftward leaning. If she wants it badly enough, she's going to have to get there herself.

This is a good thing. We need LOTS of this. LOTS. There's been too big and strong and relentless a push backwards. That HAS to be met head-on, and fought til it's BEATEN back.

And the more people gravitate to it, the better! There's your trending, right THERE! And the more people gravitate toward it, the more it'll be noticed, be commented on, be reported on, make the news, make the headlines, make the lead stories, and more and more and more. Pretty soon it'll be too painfully obvious that those who claim America is "center-right" - are full of shit. From THIS a movement is made. What we need to do is combat the damn DENIAL that's out there, from people who have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century. This is NOT Medieval Times anymore!!! Women are NOT going to go back. Racial minorities are NOT going to go back. The LGBT community is NOT going to go back. And we have to underscore how much of America is actually WITH US - in NOT wanting to go back! Stuff like this makes it a lot more obvious. And inevitable.

And it won't just be Hillary who's motivated to acknowledge the changing and LEFTWARD-LEANING realities in this country. Smart politicians EVERYWHERE will have to wake up and smell this coffee - or risk being voted out. Makes me think back to then-California Senator Alan Cranston, who was a Dem and a good guy. He once said - "I know how to count votes." The smart politician locally, regionally, and nationally, will recognize a changing America. They'll HAVE TO, in order to survive politically. Or they'll wind up unemployed. Also reminds me of our own President. Awhile back he said "Make me do it." He might already be onboard with it, whatever it is, but he wanted and needed the strength of huge numbers of people having his back, in order to make those changes and evolutions of policy a reality. This is good stuff. You want Hillary to show more leftward leanings? THIS is how you get there.

[ananda]

10. Agree.

A move towards the left is just what this nation needs!

[SoapBox]

12. Agree too.

I hope they apply loud and nonstop pressure on her.

[mother earth]

9. All pushes to the left are to be applauded. May there be plenty more from all avenues.

[semanticwikiian]

13. if this is the start of a Presidential campaign

look out, because Blasio energizes people in the same manner that BHO did
a link: http://nypost.com/2014/11/17/gop-chairman-de-blasio-will-take-nomination-over-hillary-in-2016/

“The national Democratic Party is going hard left. It’s Obama’s party, and that’s why [freshman Mass. Sen.] Elizabeth Warren gets them excited,’’ Cox said recently. “But Hillary voted for the Iraq war and then doubled-down by saying we should have gotten more involved in Syria and talked about businesses not creating jobs. She’s trying to ride in as a moderate when the party’s gone hard left,’’ he continued.

[RiverLover]

18. He'd get my vote!! /nt

[Greybnk48]

14. I can't remember anyone mainstream even talking this way

in at least the past 20 years! I'm excited about this!

[bunnies]

15. THIS is awesome!!

[sabrina 1]

16. De Blasio ran on a very 'left' message in NYC including 'police reform' and he won overwhelmingly.

After years of mayors who ran on 'law and order' total support of the NYPD, and by the rich and for the rich, NYers finally decided those policies were not good for NYC.

Giuliani and Bloomberg turned NYC into a have for the wealthy, driving out the working class and encouraging the worst behavior of the NYPD. Bloomberg called them 'my army'.

I love De Blasio's politics and hope he is able to hold firm. He is going to have a lot of pushback as he did from NYPD.

But he stood up them and their petty whining.

He does need to get more national attention so I'm glad he is doing this.

He's smart, he's tough, AND he's a real Progressive Democrat.

[RiverLover]

17. Thank you, Bill de Blasio!!!

I didn't see this post before now. Thanks for posting!!!