The Mayor and the Machine – Is Kindness a Political Liability?

As WordPress continues to recycle old prompts, I pulled another prompt from The Coffee Monsterz Co to respond to today

Do you think it’s possible for kind and uncorrupt people to succeed in high levels of government?

I would like to say yes. I want to believe it is possible for kind and uncorrupt people to succeed in high levels of government. However, when you look at the American political landscape of the last several decades—if not forever—it feels like it’s very difficult to succeed at that level of office without stepping on a few necks along the way.

A New Face in City Hall

This past Wednesday, Zoran Mamdani was sworn into office as New York City’s newest mayor. He is the first Muslim-born mayor in the history of New York City and the youngest mayor the city has had in decades.

For those who don’t know, Mamdani identifies as a “Democratic Socialist.” For a lot of Americans, “socialist” is a four-letter word; it scares the hell out of many of my fellow countrymen. Of course, for roughly half the country, the idea of a Democrat in charge of anything scares them just as much.

But so far, Mamdani is saying all the right things. From the little I’ve read about him, he seems to be a politician on the “up and up.” He doesn’t seem corrupted or tainted by the system yet. I say yet, because I think it’s inevitable at some point that the political machine is either going to chew him up or corrupt him altogether. I just hope I’m wrong.

The Weight of Hope

As I watch Mamdani, I find myself balancing this “Audacity of Potential” with a heavy dose of cautious optimism. It’s a feeling I’ve carried before.

I remember being overly optimistic about both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama when they took office. I truly believed Obama, in particular, was going to represent a seismic shift in American politics. But the reality of the office is a different beast. Obama was—for lack of a better term—very reserved in his approach to the machine. Clinton, perhaps more than any Democrat in recent history, found his success by working with “the other side of the aisle,” often at the cost of the radical change his supporters craved.

Seeing those shifts firsthand over the years has changed how I view “potential.” It’s why I look at Mamdani’s bluntness with a mixture of “I hope he keeps that” and “I wonder how long the system will let him.” We’ve seen the fire of new leadership get dimmed by the reserved nature of high office before.

Breaking the Script

What makes Mamdani’s potential feel so audacious is his willingness to break the traditional political script. I keep thinking back to two moments from the debates that really highlight this:

Zoran Mamdani explaining why he will prioritize visiting the five boroughs of NYC over international travel.

When the candidates were asked which country they’d visit first as Mayor, most gave the standard, politically “safe” answer. Mamdani’s response was refreshingly direct: he said he’d stay right here in New York City, representing everyone across the five boroughs. In a world of performative politics, choosing the people who actually elected you feels like a radical act of focus.

Zoran Mamdani’s viral debate clip about high rent prices in New York City

Then there was his blunt exchange regarding housing costs. He didn’t use flowery language; he spoke directly to the struggle of the average New Yorker. He essentially told voters: “If you think your rent is too low, vote for him. If you know your rent is too high, vote for me.”

The Horizon of Hope

It’s that kind of assertiveness that makes me pause. It’s the idea that maybe, just maybe, you don’t have to lose your soul to win a seat at the table.

We are standing at a horizon, watching to see if the machine breaks the man or if the man finally forces the machine to work for the people. I’m choosing to believe in the Audacity of Potential, even if history tells me to be cautious. After all, if we stop looking for the “uncorrupt” leaders, we’ve already let the machine win.

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AI art created with Google Gemini

The article “The Mayor and the Machine” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob