Hendrix's Eccentric Commentary

1/2/2026

With the New Year comes Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration as Mayor of New York City — and a significant part of the Democratic establishment is clutching their pearls at the thought of a self-identified Democratic Socialist becoming one of the faces of the Democratic Party.  While I agree with the argument that a successful Democratic Party candidate at the national level needs to be middle-of-the-road on cultural issues and slightly left of center in economic and ideological terms;  I strongly believe, however, that that sort of thinking is very much putting the cart before the horse.  

While I am still not convinced that the MAGAhats will allow competitive elections in the future, if they do happen it seems to me that the great lesson of Mamdani’s success is that the candidate is more important than the policy.  Mandami’s victory shows, that like the victory of Kennedy over Nixon sixty five years ago, that a personable, attractive, charismatic candidate with a command of the current media landscape (television for Kennedy, podcasts Tik-Tok, and other online mediums for Mamdani) and the ability to speak smoothly off-the-cuff is far more important than the policy they espouse.  

Democrats, lately at least, have preferred to discuss policy papers rather than candidate quality, the great lesson of the Trump era is that the reverse is not just necessary but essential.  (I defy you to tell what Trump’s policy is on just about any. topic.)  Democrats must gain power before any policy initiative can be implemented.  Mamdani’s victory shows that candidate quality is the key factor.  Likewise Bernie Sanders, and AOC success, I would argue, show that a charismatic candidate is the a priori essential for victory.  Policy is not irrelevant, Mamdani and others’ (Spanberger and Sherrill for instance) emphasis on affordability was very important, but, bluntly, winning the charisma battle is the necessary, if not sufficient, step that allows your message about policy to come through.

With the deepest respect for their political skills, the current Democratic national leadership such as Chuck Schumer, Hakim Jeffries, Dick Durban, and even to a degree the retiring Nancy Pelosi, can all fairly be described as charisma challenged and are notable bad public speakers.  I suggest that it is time for Democrats to look for personable, charismatic, media savvy candidates who can speak well spontaneously first, skilled politicians second, and only then start worrying about their ideology and policy proposals. First we gain victory, otherwise policy is meaningless.