Bill de Blasio Triangulation To Power Clintonista Way

"The deeper you look, the stronger the evidence that de Blasio’s victory is an omen of what may become the defining story of America’s next political era: the challenge, to both parties, from the left," writes Peter Beinart in an article, "The Rise Of The New New Left" for The Daily Beast, noting that, "It’s a challenge Hillary Clinton should start worrying about now," adding, "If history is any guide, the sentiments behind Occupy will find their way into the political process, just as the anti-Vietnam movement helped create Eugene McCarthy’s presidential bid in 1968, and the civil-rights movement bred politicians like Andrew Young, Tom Bradley, and Jesse Jackson." Although Bill de Blasio is a definite Democratic Party insider and Clintonista -- he served in the Bill Clinton administration and was Hillary Clinton's senatorial campaign manager -- he was shrewd and politically calculating to position himself to the left of the other mayoral candidates, but Beinart seems to take de Blasio's move at face value. "Bill de Blasio’s mayoral campaign offers a glimpse into what an Occupy-inspired challenge to Clintonism might look like," he adds. But what if de Blasio was just triangulating his way into power by telegraphing signals to outside pressure groups, and nothing more than that ? De Blasio can hardly challenge Clintonism if he is using the same unprincipled machinations from the Clinton playbook.

Moreover, the article seems to minimize that voters made a wholesale reject of Christine Quinn's boss-style politics. It cannot be denied that Occupy sensibilities played a role among some of the anti-Quinn activists. But, Occupy sensibilities could not have entirely backed de Blasio's campaign, especially given his apparent use of an independent expenditure group to help his campaign circumvent public campaign finance limits and his close working relationship with real estate lobbyists, who have been responsible for the loss of hospital infrastructure to the Bloomberg-Quinn's administration's emphasis on gentrification.