Angling for Yang
Yes, it unnerved us when, in reaction to someone looking for attention who asked a wildly misogynist question of Andrew Yang, the mayoral candidate laughed in response. And we know Yang wasn’t expressing a particularly nuanced understanding of a local policy debate when he tweeted that he’s repeatedly heard on the campaign trail that “NYC is not enforcing rules against unlicensed street vendors.”
All fair game; that’s politics in the big city. But the rival candidates shouting to the rooftops about every supposedly disqualifying Yang gaffe — even as many likely voters take his celebrity-powered candidacy seriously, not literally, keeping him far atop polls — aren’t going to crack his armor. Nor is Brooklyn borough president and nipping-at-Yang’s-heels rival Eric Adams, who responded to Yang’s welcome commitment to take the rampant abuse of parking placards by public officials by claiming it’s some elitist obsession.
Here’s what bothers us the most about Yang’s front-running candidacy:
The fact that he has never voted in a New York City mayoral election, betraying near-total civic apathy.
The fact that he has never served in city, state of federal government in any capacity. Neither had Mike Bloomberg, but Bloomberg had built a multi-billion-dollar business, whereas Yang started a small nonprofit that didn’t do what it set out to.
The fact that he has proposed a handful of wildly irresponsible ideas, like putting a casino on Governors Island.
The fact that he’s defended ultra-Orthodox yeshivas that are obviously failing their students.
The fact that his top campaign staff is actually on the payroll of a mega-lobbying firm, which is an invitation for entanglements that breed corruption, or at least its appearance.
The fact that his signature policy proposal, a 2021 New York City repackaging of the Universal Basic Income idea that vaulted him to prominence as a 2020 Democratic presidential contender, adds up to $2,000 in annual cash given to a half-million very poor New Yorkers, costing $1 billion. Yang, who isn’t saying where that cash would come from, initially sold his $12,000-for-all national model as a hedge against the fact that technology is eliminating more jobs than ever. A fraction of that sum for a half-million of the poorest residents of the five boroughs is something else entirely.
Yang, who goes off script and is willing to challenge progressive orthodoxy, is refreshing in some ways. It’s critical that New York focuses on the real reasons he should worry us.