“I did not leave with optimism,” Mayor Adams confessed last week, after spending a day in Washington cadging spare change.
Bonaparte might have said the same of his visit to Russia, in 1812.
But it gets worse:
“It’s going to be up to New Yorkers to navigate this challenge that we are facing,” he said – the challenge being the migration-driven fiscal tsunami now bearing down on his city.
The thing about tsunamis, of course, is that they are not navigable. Pretending otherwise, as a matter of public policy, is either foolish or dishonest.
Pick one.
Meanwhile, all one hears from Albany lately is a howling winter wind – Gov. Hochul also having been struck dumb by the migration crisis.
But her timidity is a grave mistake: Albany is responsible – constitutionally, but also morally – for functionally bankrupt cities. This would include the Big Apple, should it come to that.
Indeed, New York City’s insolvency in 1975 almost dragged the state down too – and it was mostly then-Gov. Hugh Carey’s wisdom, skill and outspoken courage that saved the day.
But this time there is no Hugh Carey – neither in the room, nor in the wings.
There are only Hochul and Adams, acting like innocent bystanders as failed federal immigration policies unravel New York – fiscally, politically and socially.
Of course none of this is news: A $12 billion tab for 140,000 border-hoppers already here and essential services being chain-sawed to make ends meet.
And that’s just this year; wait ‘til next: Migrants are backed up almost to El Salvador; they’re as determined to get to America, to Gotham, as the Biden administration is to let them cross the border.
Pity poor Eric?
Not really. While fighters often lose, losers rarely fight. The mayor’s current strategy – think of it as the Adams Doctrine – involves muted acquiescence in calamity, and it guarantees failure.
Yes, Adams holds weak cards. He bought a lot of grief with his sanctuary-city sensibilities; the only time he openly criticized Joe Biden’s border policy, the FBI (coincidentally?) seized his cellphones in public – and poll after poll shows him so far down that all he has is up.
So he sees an “optimism” deficit, and surrenders. That’s what quitters do.
A winner would take the low poll numbers as an opportunity: With nothing to lose, why not go aggressive?
Why not demand more of the A-list leaders of New York’s congressional delegation: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries? And what does way-back-bench Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the upstate apparition, have to say?
Adams needs to call them all out – loudly, publicly and without nuance or equivocation.
Same for Hochul. She seems not to understand that if the migrant crisis effectively destroys Adams – and that’s looking increasingly likely – she’s next.
So she also has nothing to lose.
Vigorous, name-all-the-names pushback might not carry the day – but at least New Yorkers will know who the bad guys were when the wheels finally fell off the wagon.
Excelsior, one more time.
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