Boy that Bill de Blasio is one lucky man. It all started when he was running against former Rep. Anthony Weiner, who was the front-runner in the Democratic primary for mayor before imploding for the second time.
This week if you were visiting the United States for the holidays and saw de Blasio dominating the headlines, you might think he was big news. But when there is no news and there is a way to connect a story to Hillary Clinton’s next presidential run — it becomes REALLY BIG NEWS.
{mosads}So, on the first day of 2014, as de Blasio was inaugurated — taking on a most unenviable job as the first post-Bloomberg mayor of the Big Apple — all eyes were on the Bigger Bill, who was presiding at the event and heavily blessing and endorsing everything Junior Bill has said. Bill Clinton spoke glowingly of de Blasio, which made his wife smile and made Bloomberg allies wince. It was perfectly clear that the de Blasio’s view of the city’s problems, and economic and social inequality in particular, isn’t shared by the Bloomberg administration or its supporters.
The new mayor, who once ran Hillary’s campaign for the U.S. Senate, will surely now be seen as a barometer of the Democratic left, and his support will be critical to Hillary’s efforts to fend off any challengers from the liberal base of the party. But seriously, does the de Blasio wing of the party represent the center of the party or of the country? As Hillary embraces his rhetoric and calls for an extension of unemployment benefits, is she actually planning a swing back away from the middle to win the presidency in 2016?
There are strong supporters of Bill and Hillary Clinton who have stood by them through thin and thick, and many of them represent significant financial and corporate interests both in New York and nationally. Most of them think Bloomberg was a great mayor, are furious with President Obama’s “bank bashing” and aren’t interested in anything Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) or other voices on the far left of the Democratic Party have to say.
But no matter Hillary’s high-wire act, de Blasio will be fortunate to earn all the attention she gets him.
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