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I was excited about Yang’s candidacy in the NYC mayoral election, but it didn’t take very long to see that he was out of his depth. In the end, he didn’t even r

I was excited about Yang’s candidacy in the NYC mayoral election, but it didn’t take very long to see that he was out of his depth. In the end, he didn’t even rank in my top 5 (NYC has ranked choice now). Why does he keep running for top positions? He clearly doesn’t have a record of success as an executive, either in private or public sectors. He seems like a nice guy. If he wants to get into politics, why not start as a city councilor or something?

prepend 5y ago
> Why does he keep running for top positions? I’ve wondered about this with people like Beto in Texas and Abrams in Georgia, and used to think it’s because being a perpetual candidate is lucrative. But I think Abrams may win the next governorship in Georgia. Who knows about Beto. Sometimes “hopeless causes” pay off and I like to think that Yang is an idealist who really wants to make a difference.
_jal 5y ago
I mostly agree. He wants to project a competent-technocrat, "no bull" image, but is so far out of his depth that he comes across as the opposite. He also seems weirdly inflexible, for someone who wants a job that involves unpleasant choices all day, every day.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- cabalamat 5y ago
  > He also seems weirdly inflexible How is he inflexible?
spyckie2 5y ago
I think it's important not to confuse the goal with the action. I don't think he wants to become a politician. He wants to enact political change. These are two very different things. Saying "if he wants to enact political change, why not start as city councillor?" Well... how many democrats or republicans are pushing for change? No one who is born and raised in party lines is pushing for reform; they're doing the opposite. Yang could never push for the ideas that he wants to see changed in the US as a democrat or a republican. It just isn't possible - the system is too incumbent. I think he realized this during his NY election, which was his first real taste of political competition. I think this is the only step that he can take. This isn't a "chess move" that he's doing to brilliantly win the political arena; this is more like someone with core values believing in those core values and doing whatever it takes to push those things forward. At the end of the day, politics is not about winning or losing elections, it's about making sure what you think as important issues are heard and addressed.
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  > I don't think he wants to become a politician. He wants to enact political change. These are two very different things. No, they aren't. Well, one is an action, and one is the description of a person in a position to do that action (not every politician enacts political change, but everyone who enacts political change is a politician.)
  - BigRedDog1669 5y ago
    Ideally they aren't different, but in practice they are.
- hansel_der 5y ago
  > At the end of the day, politics is not about winning or losing elections, it's about making sure what you think as important issues are heard and addressed. imo most politicians are not interested in the issues themselfs but in winning elections because that is their job.
- bradfa 5y ago
  What will be interesting, and telling, to watch will be who joins him. If some high profile government people join him in the Forward Party, then Yang doesn't need to be great at management or politics, he just needs to light the fire and find the kindling. There's enough other higher profile politicians across federal, state, and local politics who don't fully align with either major party today. If even just one of them publicly joins Yang, I think that'll be enough to justify the last few years of his efforts and it will encourage others to join him, too.
- Traster 5y ago
  >Well... how many democrats or republicans are pushing for change? No one who is born and raised in party lines is pushing for reform; they're doing the opposite. This is factually not true. Both major parties have radical wings that have both seen measures of success in the last decade or so. The Republicans have had the tea party movement, and the democrats have the progressive caucus which are likely in the middle of setting an infrastructure budget way beyond the what people previously thought was possible. Obama had a perfectly traditional route into politics and he stood directly against the wars his party had supported 5 years earlier and passed an incredibly ambitious healthcare bill. Bernie Sanders is radical in his positions, has been effective in championing them and changing the debate and he is well within the democratic party. What Yang is pushing for in terms of policy isn't that much more radical than AOC. What he is pushing for is more radical but arguable way less effective than the incremental changes that Stacey Abrams acheived. I want to be clear here, I'm not saying there's no value to what Yang is doing. But it's a dis-service to the actual political reality when people pretend like nothing gets done in traditional politics.
UIZealot 5y ago
> He clearly doesn’t have a record of success as an executive, either in private or public sectors. You could say the same thing about Obama in 2008. > He seems like a nice guy. If he wants to get into politics, why not start as a city councilor or something? Nice job damning with faint praise there, well done! Guess what, he's already in politics. He ran a wildly influential campaign for the Democratic presidential candidacy, and was a top contender in the NYC mayoral race. How many people "wanting to get into" politics could claim to have done that?
farmerstan 5y ago
I am a huge Yang supporter. I donated money to his political campaign, the first time I’ve ever done that in my life. I was horrified that he ran for mayor. City politics is incredibly complex and it’s actually harder to navigate than other political positions. I felt he should have run for senator which would have been an easier job than mayor. But overall I think him creating a new party is exactly what we need now.

prepend 5y ago

> Why does he keep running for top positions? I’ve wondered about this with people like Beto in Texas and Abrams in Georgia, and used to think it’s because being a perpetual candidate is lucrative. But I think Abrams may win the next governorship in Georgia. Who knows about Beto. Sometimes “hopeless causes” pay off and I like to think that Yang is an idealist who really wants to make a difference.

_jal 5y ago

I mostly agree. He wants to project a competent-technocrat, "no bull" image, but is so far out of his depth that he comes across as the opposite. He also seems weirdly inflexible, for someone who wants a job that involves unpleasant choices all day, every day.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
cabalamat 5y ago
> He also seems weirdly inflexible How is he inflexible?

spyckie2 5y ago

I think it's important not to confuse the goal with the action. I don't think he wants to become a politician. He wants to enact political change. These are two very different things. Saying "if he wants to enact political change, why not start as city councillor?" Well... how many democrats or republicans are pushing for change? No one who is born and raised in party lines is pushing for reform; they're doing the opposite. Yang could never push for the ideas that he wants to see changed in the US as a democrat or a republican. It just isn't possible - the system is too incumbent. I think he realized this during his NY election, which was his first real taste of political competition. I think this is the only step that he can take. This isn't a "chess move" that he's doing to brilliantly win the political arena; this is more like someone with core values believing in those core values and doing whatever it takes to push those things forward. At the end of the day, politics is not about winning or losing elections, it's about making sure what you think as important issues are heard and addressed.

dragonwriter 5y ago
> I don't think he wants to become a politician. He wants to enact political change. These are two very different things. No, they aren't. Well, one is an action, and one is the description of a person in a position to do that action (not every politician enacts political change, but everyone who enacts political change is a politician.)
- BigRedDog1669 5y ago
  Ideally they aren't different, but in practice they are.
hansel_der 5y ago
> At the end of the day, politics is not about winning or losing elections, it's about making sure what you think as important issues are heard and addressed. imo most politicians are not interested in the issues themselfs but in winning elections because that is their job.
bradfa 5y ago
What will be interesting, and telling, to watch will be who joins him. If some high profile government people join him in the Forward Party, then Yang doesn't need to be great at management or politics, he just needs to light the fire and find the kindling. There's enough other higher profile politicians across federal, state, and local politics who don't fully align with either major party today. If even just one of them publicly joins Yang, I think that'll be enough to justify the last few years of his efforts and it will encourage others to join him, too.
Traster 5y ago
>Well... how many democrats or republicans are pushing for change? No one who is born and raised in party lines is pushing for reform; they're doing the opposite. This is factually not true. Both major parties have radical wings that have both seen measures of success in the last decade or so. The Republicans have had the tea party movement, and the democrats have the progressive caucus which are likely in the middle of setting an infrastructure budget way beyond the what people previously thought was possible. Obama had a perfectly traditional route into politics and he stood directly against the wars his party had supported 5 years earlier and passed an incredibly ambitious healthcare bill. Bernie Sanders is radical in his positions, has been effective in championing them and changing the debate and he is well within the democratic party. What Yang is pushing for in terms of policy isn't that much more radical than AOC. What he is pushing for is more radical but arguable way less effective than the incremental changes that Stacey Abrams acheived. I want to be clear here, I'm not saying there's no value to what Yang is doing. But it's a dis-service to the actual political reality when people pretend like nothing gets done in traditional politics.

UIZealot 5y ago

> He clearly doesn’t have a record of success as an executive, either in private or public sectors. You could say the same thing about Obama in 2008. > He seems like a nice guy. If he wants to get into politics, why not start as a city councilor or something? Nice job damning with faint praise there, well done! Guess what, he's already in politics. He ran a wildly influential campaign for the Democratic presidential candidacy, and was a top contender in the NYC mayoral race. How many people "wanting to get into" politics could claim to have done that?

farmerstan 5y ago

I am a huge Yang supporter. I donated money to his political campaign, the first time I’ve ever done that in my life. I was horrified that he ran for mayor. City politics is incredibly complex and it’s actually harder to navigate than other political positions. I felt he should have run for senator which would have been an easier job than mayor. But overall I think him creating a new party is exactly what we need now.