Bill de Blasio and the Progressive Dilemma

We are called to put an end to economic and social inequalities that threaten to unravel the city we love. And so today, we commit to a new progressive direction in New York. And that same progressive impulse has written our city’s history. It’s in our DNA.…

When I said we would take dead aim at the Tale of Two Cities, I meant it. And we will do it. I will honor the faith and trust you have placed in me. And we will give life to the hope of so many in our city. We will succeed as One City.

That was Bill de Blasio talking in front of City Hall on Wednesday, during an uplifting inauguration ceremony that featured a former President (Bill Clinton), a girl who recently was the subject of a Times series about rising homelessness, and a crowd-pleasing d.j. with a playlist that ranged from the Commodores to Katy Perry. Now, though, the party is over. The roadblocks have been removed from Chambers Street, and the new occupants of Michael Bloomberg’s second-floor “bull pen,” whence he ran the city for twelve years, are faced with the same dilemma that confronts all progressive politicians these days: Rising inequality is easy to analyze and bemoan, but what do you do about it?

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