STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – You almost have to feel bad for Mayor Bill de Blasio.
He finally makes his move and announces he’s running for president, and the bulk of the coverage he gets is basically a stream of hate mail from the New York media pouring through the letter slot in his door.
The message: Go ahead. Run for president. Get out of New York. And stay out. Nobody wants you here.
And Staten Islanders thought they had the market cornered on de Blasio contempt.
How’s all that vitriol going to resonate with the voters that de Blasio needs to impress in Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire? “Vote for me. They hate me back home.” It’s a pretty terrible job recommendation.
President Donald Trump called de Blasio the worst mayor we’ve ever had. And national Republicans reminded the world of how de Blasio helped kill our beloved Staten Island Chuck after fumbling the borough groundhog a few years ago. There’s even been a redux of how de Blasio ate pizza with a knife and fork.
What you’re not hearing: A groundswell of de Blasio fans and other Democrats rushing to the mayor’s defense. He truly does seem all alone out there.
There’s one silver lining for the mayor: The blasting screed of negative coverage is certainly helping him stand out from the other two dozen or so Democrats chasing the party’s presidential nomination. De Blasio will find out for sure whether “any press is good press,” whether there really is “no such thing as bad press.”
Like I said, you almost have to feel bad for old Bill. Almost. Because the mayor has brought a lot of this on himself.
Remember how we used to gripe when Mayor Mike Bloomberg used to jet off to his posh digs in Bermuda or London? De Blasio has been out of town so much, he makes Bloomberg look like former Gov. Mario Cuomo, who was mocked for never wanting to leave Albany. Recall how Cuomo begged off running for president in 1992 because he had a state budget to attend to? Those were the days!
City Councilman Joe Borelli (R-South Shore) the other day said that de Blasio should resign as mayor if he wants to run for president. But here’s the punchline: Would any of us even notice if de Blasio quit?
De Blasio’s presidential announcement video highlighted some of the main problems with his candidacy. He spent the second half of the video bashing Trump. Which is fine, but Democrats have failed to move the ball when they’ve made Trump the issue, including in 2016. The party has to craft a message that appeals to middle class voters and independents. Tearing down Trump on its own isn’t going to get it done.
In another misstep, de Blasio leads off his video by talking about income redistribution. He talks about helping illegal immigrants. He talks about battling climate change. All good issues for a Democratic primary, but losers in a general election. Besides, there are already plenty of Democrats running who are talking the same game. How is de Blasio going to stand out from the crowd? And how does a guy who takes a procession of SUVs to the gym talk about global warming?
It could be a very short ride for de Blasio. He’s going to have to raise big money. He’s going to have to show poll support in order to get on the debate stage and truly take his message national. If he doesn’t win out, he’s going to get a pretty frosty reception when he comes home. He’s going to find that the city has moved on fine without him.