David Brooks: belief

Transcript context

…It seems like it’s a somewhat empty field. They’re ambitious. I’m not sure they’re skilled. Well, (a) it’s a super hard job. When Rudy Giuliani was mayor, I would travel around in the van with him and just watch him. To do New York — all the boroughs you’re handling on a day-to-day basis, such a level of economic, social, cultural, demographic diversity — it’s mind-boggling. Then, you’re in conflict all the time. Giuliani loved the conflict. I was with him once. We were at the Metropolitan Opera, and he kicked the PLO representative out in the middle of a performance. He just loved that kind of stuff. This was before he went and became the Giuliani we know today. He was still a very rational person. But it’s so demanding. Then you think of the hurdles you have to clear. I happen to think Mike Bloomberg was a pretty good mayor. For a businessman, billionaire, Republican, there are a lot of hurdles. I would say, in general, when I look at a lot of the mayors who are not successful — Chicago’s mayor is not doing so great, DC’s mayor. I’d say even though there are some mayors — I think LA, San Francisco, I think Atlanta — I’d say we’re in a period where the quality of our mayors is surprisingly low in a way that it didn’t used to be. It used to be, I would think, the happiest people I know were people who left Congress and became mayors, and the most unhappy were people who left mayors and became congressmen, because you can actually get something done. But I would say, right now, cities are becoming less governable, especially in blue states. Whereas the cities I know that are doing well are blue cities in red states. The Nashvilles, the Austin, Texas, the Houston, the Dallas, Phoenix. They combine red-state tax policy with blue-city education and welfare policy. I think that that’s where all the people are flocking to, so it’s got to be working reasonably well. “Where is it you want to travel to next, and why?”…

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