You Happy? I Am!
I keep looking for the piece of coal in the stocking, but I’m as happy as a nine-year-old on Christmas morning. Abigail Spanberger triumphed in Pennsylvania. Mikie Sherrill won in New Jersey. And Zohran Mamdani, a Muslim immigrant who was a back-bench nobody in Nowheresville, New York, has become the face of the greatest city in the world. California decided that it is going to save the country by pumping up the number of Democratic reps. I went to bed with very good news.
It was exactly the opposite of what our failed president hoped for. Two days ago he told panicked New York Republicans to vote for Cuomo, a dynastic Democrat, because Curtis Sliwa could not prevail in the mayor’s race. Yesterday, the exhausted, ghoulish Andrew Cuomo had to look at the consequences of his sexual misbehavior, his old fashioned New York-ishness, his petered-out charisma, and confront a brilliantly talented shooting star.
Jews broke for Cuomo, but not this Jew. There’s no doubt that Mamdani will ally himself with Palestine and raise the question of Israel’s conduct in Gaza. Between us Jews, that’s a necessary question. But it is not likely to be the focus of his mayoralty. And if he becomes the Ilhan Omar of New York City, he deserves to be turned out in the next election. The job of a New York City mayor is not foreign policy or symbolic swipes against a foreign leader. It’s to moderate the impact of predatory capitalism and make life better for all his constituents. That’s what Mamdani has promised to do, along with resisting the force of Trump and his minions. I would have voted with young New York Jews seduced by Mamdani’s fresh-faced populism. I’m prayerfully confident that it will all pan out.
The real thrill for me is Spanberger and Sherrill. They are moderate Democrats who project competence and authenticity, who look real at a podium and know their constituencies. By my count, this makes three future presidents, including the estimable Gretchen Whitmer, rock-solid governor of my home state, Michigan. Not only that, the Universe just delivered the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to the Democrats.
When people talk about Democratic standard-bearer Mamdani, I hope you’ll correct course and valorize Spanberger and Sherrill. As much as I may like Zohran Mamdani, his one-off win is not a recasting of the party. It is a phenomenon unique to the City of New York and would not likely be replicated elsewhere in the country. It’s a little bit like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has not pulled the party into the Bernie Sanders camp. Neither, for that matter, has Bernie Sanders.
But enough of granularity. Let’s salute the winners. What is bad for this White House is good for us. I’m feeling my full five minutes of hope and I’ve got no time for defeatists and nay-sayers. It’s like a new heart in my formerly hollowed-out chest. I can finally feel the flow of blood to my toes.