Chicago Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor, a strong campaign ally who has also criticized some of the mayor’s early decisions, noted how critics often trot out the word “socialism” to cast blame on Johnson for long-standing issues facing the city. It’s a phenomenon, she added, that Mamdani could similarly face. “People make this a bad word. People make this into something that it is not. Let’s just call all of this what it is: This is the way the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor, because they get us fighting on s— that just does not even matter,” she said.
Fighting fire with empty words
While the banks get fat and the poor stay poor
And the rich get rich and the cops get paid
To look away
As the one percent rules AmericaSpreading the disease
Everybody needs, but no-one wants to see
The way society
Keeps spreading the diseaseAn Operation: Mindcrime quote spotted in the wild. Those are rare.
has captured so much negative attention (dubbed “America’s Worst Mayor” by The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board)
Whenever someone wants to get the pulse of Chicago, they look to the Wall Street Journal, so this negative opinion piece on a progressive mayor by a conservative newspaper should be proof enough that he’s had difficulties in office.
So, being from Chicago, Johnson’s problems are mostly personal and of his own making. Like the article highlights, his staffing and approach has been pretty abysmal. He has a tendency to appoint unqualified pastors to positions (which, to be fair, is classic Chicago graft and not unheard of in the city with other mayors), and he doesn’t handle criticism well (that is, everything is “because he’s a black man” even if the criticism is justified). Plus, antagonizing the very popular governor from the same party is just a stupid thing to do. Some decisions are taken haphazardly (like trying to house migrants on toxic land). Others are just insanely stupid given the history of Chicago and basic financial literacy, like trying to take out a high interest loan to satisfy the Chicago Teachers’ Union or paying over $1M per unit of affordable housing.
The closest thing to an indictment of progressive policies is how Johnson wants to balance our budget, i.e. through taxes, even though Chicago is one of the most highly taxed places in the country already. He seems constitutionally incapable of reviewing for waste in the budget, of which there is plenty thanks to graft built up over decades. In this case, we don’t really need more of a tax in the city; we need the money that’s already being sent to be used more effectively. Decades of financial mismanagement and straight up corruption (which are, to be clear, not Johnson’s fault) led to where we are now. Even that, though, is not really because he’s progressive.
In all, Johnson’s problems are not because of overarching progressive policies; it’s because he personally makes poor decisions and doesn’t really have a grasp on how to effectively govern. While I haven’t looked too far into Mamdani, if he can simply make sound management decisions and not alienate those who should be allies, he’ll have a better time.
Also from Chicago, a lot of the hate he gets is “because he’s a black man”. Same with Lori Lightfoot and Kim Fox. A lot of people absolutely hated them but couldn’t articulate any reasons beyond being black and progressive. There is still a deeply racist streak in this city, especially among the self-perceived upper class.
Absolutely! Some of it is definitely racism, and it is at the root of some criticism. His issue is that he seems to attribute virtually everything that’s negative or even questioning to racism. Honestly, I get why he’s defensive because of that, but that doesn’t make it any less of an overreaction.
Questioning investing in the south and west sides (to be clear, a good thing) is probably rooted in racism. Questioning why another pastor is being nominated to some position is probably not. He treats both the same.
I worry that poor execution or bad decision making is what will sink the progressive movement. People assume that Johnson’s poor performance is due to inherent issues with democratic socialism, when in fact it he’s just not good at his job. Not all progressives have the right disposition and skills to do great things - and if progressive voters can’t or won’t distinguish between policy and performance, then the movement is likely to fizzle out.
The annoying thing about that is that progressives are expected by the media to make no mistakes, but the right gets a pass on continuing gross incompetence and deliberate sabotage.
And progressives, by definition, are trying new things. Some aren’t going to work. Fail early, fail often should be the expectation, but when that happens, progressive leaders need to remain directionally correct and must be competent at not only executing new plans but pulling the plug on failures.
Anyway, a lot of this is Chicago-specifiic. Chicago governance has been a dog’s breakfast for a very long time.
I worry that poor execution or bad decision making is what will sink the progressive movement. People assume that Johnson’s poor performance is due to inherent issues with democratic socialism, when in fact it he’s just not good at his job.
Exactly! It’s why I’m not concerned with Mamdani based on what I’ve seen. He seems fairly level-headed, and he has a bit more governing experience than Johnson had.
Not all progressives have the right disposition and skills to do great things - and if progressive voters can’t or won’t distinguish between policy and performance, then the movement is likely to fizzle out.
We need to have the ability to self-criticize and be pragmatic. There’s room for pragmatism without compromising core beliefs.
I dunno… The whole make buses free so they run faster is not well tethered to the reality of bus travel. It’s stuff like that that makes me worried for Mamdani.
So i took a bus line in LA that went free for a while, and it got faster. It just got faster, because people didnt habe to fuck around with their ohones or their cards or qhatever while boarding.
I can say, conxlusively, as someone who takes the bus and regularly took a bus line that went free for a while: this works. It’s great. Bus feels safer too.
To be clear, he is not saying that making them free will cause them to be faster. He is saying he will make them free and will also make them faster. Two different things
A lot of performance also depends on having the correct support in place, with a willingness and ability to quickly replace undermining elements.
Yes. He is building a movement that can be utilized once he is in office. The work doesn’t end on election day, it starts.
I consider assembling the right team part of the leadership position. 🤷 If there are structural problems where a leader cannot remove underperforming or undermining team members, then success is unlikely.
Aren’t council elected? I’m unfamiliar with Chicago electoralism and hiring/firing policies, but a difficult to remove person who talked one way and performed another is certainly problematic, whether it’s intentional or not. At the end of the day, in capitalism, people will fight tooth and nail to stay in a job where they are not only under qualified without hope of proper support and training for themselves, and they’re also outright miserable, because bills still need paying and homelessness and hunger are still criminalized.
Anyone appointing pastors to government positions is not really progressive, afaic.
Jefferson was wrong about many things but he was spot on when he wrote “a wall of separation of church and state.”
There has been a long history of religious figures fully dedicated to progressive causes.
