"The reason for all the vitriol is that he wasn't suitably enthusiastic -- he didn't pay all the required lip service, he isn't perceived to feel people's pain.

"The reason for all the vitriol is that he wasn't suitably enthusiastic -- he didn't pay all the required lip service, he isn't perceived to feel people's pain." I agree. He's a strong leader who didn't start doing everything "for the poor" and instead focused on making the city strong and beating back the criminal element that ruined it. That's never popular with the self-pity/white knighting crowd (who seem to have discovered HN, alas).