There’s an old saying that it’s “better to be lucky than good,” but what if you are unlucky and bad?
That would describe Mayor Bill de Blasio, who in the span of a few hours went from defiant to deflated. He started out crowing and ended up eating crow.
De Blasio still doesn’t understand what it means to be mayor and how to use his power for the good of all New Yorkers. He’s stuck in a combative, campaign mindset, trying to win an argument rather than govern effectively.
The mayor emerged from hiding Monday to use the release of 2014 crime stats to heap more abuse on cops, saying a decline of 4.6 percent in major felonies meant he was right to demand both a “safe city” and a “fairer city.” He also blasted officers for turning their backs on him at Sunday’s funeral for Officer Wenjian Liu, calling them “disrespectful” and saying “it defies a lot of what we all feel is the right and decent thing to do.”
De Blasio still doesn’t understand what it means to be mayor and how to use his power for the good of all New Yorkers. He’s stuck in a combative, campaign mindset, trying to win an argument rather than govern effectively.
Hours later, he was at a Bronx hospital visiting two undercover cops wounded in a late-night shootout with armed robbers.
The roller-coaster day revealed the incoherence of de Blasio’s mayoralty. He claims lower crime justifies his anti-police agenda, but can’t resist throwing an elbow at the people who actually do the dangerous job. And when two officers are wounded, he praises their courage without any recognition of why so many of the Finest believe he has made the job even more dangerous.
To continue reading Michael Goodwin's column in the New York Post, click here.
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