NEW YORK, NY – August 03: New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio presents a proclamation at the 46th Precincts National Night Out on August 3, 2021 in the Bronx borough of New York City. National Night Out an annual community-building campaign established in 1970 is intended to promote police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie. (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
Former New York City mayor Bill de Blasio was, by the end of his term, not particularly popular.
Now he's written an op-ed owning that and trying to turn his own public rejection into a lesson for President Biden.
"[When] it comes to being unpopular, I’m unfortunately somewhat of an expert. I made my fair share of mistakes. President Biden and the Democratic Party should learn from them," De Blasio said in a piece published Tuesday morning in The Atlantic.
The former mayor and presidential candidate left office at the end of 2021 and, after flirting with (deeply unpopular) bids for both governor and Congress, has so far settled into a life outside of public office.
In his Atlantic piece, De Blasio made the case that Biden needed to spend less time managing problems and more time showing people what a better future might look like.
"As the mayor of New York City, I had one of the loudest megaphones in the country, and I failed to use it properly. Biden’s bully pulpit is a thousand times more powerful. He needs to use it to show that he truly empathizes with everyday Americans on the issues they care most about" like inflation and health care, De Blasio wrote.
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To read the former mayor's full Atlantic op-ed, click here.
