Why Zohran Mamdani is the anti-Obama
The cosmopolitan universalism championed by New York's Mayor stands in marked contrast to the abstract vision of unity once espoused by America's former president
Note: This piece represents a continuation of ideas I first explored in a lengthy 2020 review of Barack Obama’s memoir A Promised Land (co-authored with Nathan J. Robinson) which you can read in full here.
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I was particularly struck by two of Zohran Mamdani's recent videos: one a reflection on Ramadan, the other a St. Patrick's day message to Irish New Yorkers. As is typically the case with Mamdani, the depth and substance in both is striking. He speaks well, is characteristically engaging, and there's a lot more reflectiveness and history to be found here than what one generally sees from politicians doing these sorts of things ("Today, we recognize the distinct and ongoing contributions of Culture X or Diaspora Y to [insert jurisdiction here]..." etc etc).
Here, and elsewhere in his communications, Mamdani is doing a very useful kind of public education. To this end, his Ramadan video manages to be, at once: a gently moving tribute to Muslim life in New York,1 a celebration of the different backgrounds and traditions — geographic, culinary, and so on — that reside within Islamic culture, and an introduction to the meaning and rituals of Islam's holy month for non-Muslims. In this case, there's obviously a personal dimension at work. But regardless, it's a far cry (in the best sense) from the rather shallow style of diversity theatre that became so popular among liberal politicians during the 2010s.
