Source: The American Prospect
by Harold Meyerson
“I do not mean this as a negative assessment when I say that what Zohran Mamdani’s inaugural address as mayor of New York reminded me most of was Woody Allen’s Manhattan (albeit with a more all-encompassing view of the city. Like Manhattan, Mamdani’s speech was a love-besotted tour of New York) though with a focus on the city’s multiracial working and middle class you can’t find anywhere in the Allen oeuvre. For Mamdani, this focus was intended to be a means of identification and reassurance (I am one of you, I know you), legitimacy (I represent all of you), and commitment (I will fight for you all). It was a homeboy speech. A local, not an express, was stopping at every other street corner to celebrate the halal carts and the delis.” (01/02/25)
https://prospect.org/2026/01/02/enter-stage-left-mayor-mamdani/