Mayor Mahatma?: New York's Bill de Blasio Compares Himself to Mohandas Gandhi
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio compared his experiences with political setbacks to that of Mohandas Gandhi, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.
"Every time someone tries something and it doesn't work, it invalidates anything else they might do going forward," de Blasio, a Democrat, said in a recent interview.
De Blasio said someone should "tell Mahatma Gandhi [about that]. I mean there's no leader that hasn't had setbacks." Gandhi led a nonviolent civil disobedience movement that helped lead to Indian independence from Great Britain, and inspired other such movements worldwide.
He was later honored with the title Mahatma, which is Sanskrit for "great soul" or "saint."
De Blasio lamented his level of favorability in America's largest city, after being asked why he is not as popular as former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who started as a Republican but switched his affiliation to Independent during his tenure.
De Blasio said that, unlike his predecessor, he has not spent as much time on self-promotion, according to the New York Post.
He also said Hillary Clinton's loss in the 2016 election is partially due to the fact she did not heed his advice in illustrating a more progressive liberal platform on the campaign trail. "If they had [that] they would have won. I stand by that," de Blasio, who was Clinton's 2000 U.S. Senate campaign manager, said.
Democratic political consultant Hank Sheinkopf, who worked with both Bloomberg and former President Bill Clinton, told the Post that "if Hillary listened to him, she's still unlikely to have been elected president."
"Second, he's no Gandhi," Sheinkopf said.
