Page 28 - The Economist20171214

28 United States The Economist December 16th 2017

Lexington Tinseltown dreams

EricGarcetti, LA’s mayor, thinks the White House needs someone a lotlike EricGarcetti
years in Los Angeles’s splendid Art Deco City Hall—including a
minimum-wage increase and cutsto businesstax—are all tributes
to his powers ofpersuasion. “IfI was just walking around with a
“D” on my forehead, or an “R” on my forehead, I couldn’t have
done one ofthose,” he says.
Optimism, sophistication and an appetite for the future, the
attributes of America’s big cities, are Mr Garcetti’s pitch. A record
of bipartisanship might also help him woo independents. As a
west-coast liberal, with a wonkish air and overfondness for left-
ish jargon, he would need it. Mr Obama was a wonk with a gift
for verbal simplicity. Mr Garcetti, though articulate, is capable of
linessuch as: “Whatworksin thatsame space thatDemocrats are
really cautious about is the visceral stuff, too, ‘the guts piece’.”
Bipartisanship does not win primaries. Yet Mr Garcetti trusts
his progressive credentials would pass muster there. He is, after
all, Jewish, Spanish-speaking, and a proponent of transgender
rights and universal health care. Democrats could perhaps also
use some fresh blood, which may be another reason he fancies
his chances. Their likeliest contenders for 2020 are oldsters such
as Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. They have
few Democratic governors to choose from. Mitch Landrieu of
OWARDSthe end ofan amusingfewhourswith EricGarcetti, New Orleans, another impressive Democratic mayor, seems
Tthe mayor of Los Angeles, Lexington asked an abrupt ques- minded not to run.
tion. Many Angelenos—in fact, every Angeleno he had consult- How Mr Garcetti might fare in a presidential race is nonethe-
ed—appeared to view MrGarcetti’s recent hints that he was mull- less hard to gauge. That is mainly because of one of his main
ing a run for president in 2020 with astonishment, hilarity even. strengths, his relative novelty. It is also because of a traditional
Were they right to be surprised? The 46-year-old Democrat, who weakness of local leaders. Even where their policies are innova-
has found occasion to visit Florida, Louisiana and New Hamp- tive, the specifics can sound trifling—perhaps especially in Los
shire in recent months, paused a moment. “Probably,” he said, “I Angelesbecause itsmayoraltyhaslesspowerthan those ofother
mean I would probably have been, ifa mayorhad said that.” big cities. Education is the purview of a giant school board. The
Generals, senators, governors and a reality-television host police department was reformed after the Rodney King riots in
have all become president. No mayor ever has. That reflects a po- 1992. Some ofMrGarcetti’sboasts, includinghiseffortto bringthe
litical tradition in which states, not cities, are the building-blocks Olympicsto LosAngelesin 2028 and help the homeless, do not at
of the republic, the currency of presidential elections and the all sound like credentials for leading the free world. This was a
main counterparts to the federal government. With one or two problem that sank Martin O’Malley, a former governor of Mary-
notable exceptions, such as Fiorello La Guardia, New York’s post- land who liked to talk about his past projects in Baltimore. Mr
Depression mayor, the characters drawn to mayoral office have Garcetti concedes the risk: “There’s a scenario in which I could
as a result tended to be more modest and pragmatic than gover- crash and burn, I could O’Malley it.”
norsand senators. YetMrGarcetti, a dapperman, whose self-dep-
recating chuckle cannot hide his ferocious ambition, believes the Nowfill in the blanks
path from City Hall to the White House is now clearer. He is admirably composed; Mr Garcetti’s claim to have “always
He may well be right. Globalisation and the growth of great been scared by what comes next” hardly seems credible. Yet it
citiessuch asLosAngeleshave raised the profilesoftheir mayors. was striking how often he struggled to provide a straightforward
Only a few years ago it was thought remarkable that Michael answer. This was sometimes because he was still grasping forthe
Bloomberg(who considered a run) and Boris Johnson, while pre- right one to big questions, which seemed fair enough. If Mr Gar-
siding over New York and London, hired foreign-policy teams. cetti hasno simple solution to the feelingsofeconomic insecurity
That is now standard, with big-city mayors prominent in global he identifies as America’s biggest problem, he is hardly alone in
discussionsofclimate change, urban policyand investment. This that. Yet he was also too obviously reluctant to take potentially
phenomenon hasalso coincided in America, asMrGarcetti notes compromising positions. He claimed not to “have a problem”
hopefully, with growing distrust in status-quo politics, lowering with those Democrats who say Donald Trump should be im-
the entry barriers to national office. “Why hadn’t a black Ameri- peached, but would not say whether he agrees with them. He
can won the presidencybefore? Whyhadn’ta realityTVstar? His- was reluctant to say which other Democratic leaders, with the
tory is always ‘no blankcan’t do blankuntil a blankdoes it’”. predictable exception ofBarackObama, he most identifies with.
Thislookslike an appealingopening. Asthe enginesof Ameri- Mr Garcetti’s audacious punt should not be astonishing. The
ca’s growth, and repositories of most of its inequality and crime, political rules are in flux and the Democratic competition does
cities are responsible for a lot of the policy innovation for which notlookimposing. Buthe will notrise above itbyplaying safe. Mr
stateshave traditionallyclaimed credit. Thatisalso because may- Obama and Mr Trump, the disruptive forces he hopes to follow,
ors tend to be particularly good at building consensus, especially could get away with obfuscating because both, in their different
in cities such as Los Angeles where they co-exist with powerful ways, were exceptional campaigners. To have a seriouschance of
city councils. Mr Garcetti’s biggest achievements from his four emulatingthem, MrGarcetti will need to be bolder. 7