Zohran Mamdani and the Future of American Politics

[Celerity]

NYC’s mayoral candidate has Kennedy-like charisma, a global profile, and nepo baby instincts. He is also a proud democratic socialist who has both Donald Trump and the left-wing establishment in a lather. Is Zohran Mamdani the future of American politics—or a fantasy?

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/zohran-mamdani-and-the-future-of-american-politics

https://archive.ph/3xq1p



It was the primary fight that changed the course of the Democratic Party. A craggy-faced master of insider politics squared off against a suave and handsome upstart, whose youth and relative inexperience masked the fact that he had a very hard-nosed understanding of machine politics. The older man was confident. He sat back and quietly logged support from party dons, donors, insiders. He would step in when the moment was right.

The younger man campaigned at a pace that seemed to test his physical limits. He and his network of supporters badgered every ward heeler and union boss who would listen, often with a simple request that they agree to meet the candidate. Because if you met the candidate, you would be charmed, sure, but you would also learn that he was very serious about this thing, that he intended to win, and that he had plans for what he’d do when he did. He also had a fervent base of support from a bloc of poor immigrants whose values and religion had long been seen as dangerous, alien, and simply un-American. Then he transcended that base. By the time the general election came around, it was hard to imagine that anyone else could have been the nominee. It was 1960, the year Lyndon Baines Johnson lost the Democratic presidential primary to John Fitzgerald Kennedy.



“Oh, no. Oh MY God.”

Late this past August, Zohran Mamdani took in a service at the First Baptist Church of Crown Heights, a Black church on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. The congregation moved into its current location not long after Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, a year that looks in retrospect like the high-water mark of American liberalism, before the riots of ’68, the spiraling of the New Left into radical terrorism, Reagan and the shattering of the Democratic coalition, Trump and a new turn among conservatives against the philosophy of liberalism itself.

The Democratic Party has been chasing the high of the ’60s ever since. It was the last time that liberals with big dreams were able to win real mass support from the “multiracial working class,” as Mamdani would describe it, to enact a sweeping new policy vision—or to advance virtually any truly new policy vision. The party is still dominated by baby boomers who came of age during this time. And in all this time there has only been a handful, if that, of politicians who have inspired as much hope for a new Democratic vision as Zohran Mamdani.

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[Tertullian]

1. Great Article.

He represents the youth of the party. I do believe that he and his comrades are the future of the US Democratic Party. I also believe that the US Democratic Party will win and guide the future of the USA.

[msongs]

2. the lesser of 3 not so good choices. ooops now 2 choices. nt

[Torchlight]

5. Nice shoes

[QueerDuck]

4. I think his being a "democratic socialist" may explain why Jeffries does not want to get too involved in his politics.

Jeffries is a Democrat and very loyal to the party. Therefore, reasonable people have concluded that Jeffries has personal reservations and misgivings about someone who will not self-identify as being a proud Democrat. I wonder what Mamdani could do or say to win him over, or to win the confidence of others who also remain guarded. That's the elephant in the room that nobody wants to speak about or address in a frank, honest, and adult manner. I can't remember if I read this "theory" online, or if it was some loudmouth youtube pundit on a repeating loop. Now...I'm not attacking Jeffries in any way... I respect him very much and he's certainly entitled to his opinions and beliefs. But when you think about it, this goes a long way to explaining things, doesn't it?

[leftstreet]

3. DURec

[Ghost of Tom Joad]

6. He was on the View today

he has the charisma and the smarts, I wish I could vote for him but I know my daughter will.