Mayor de Blasio likens his City Hall mission to FDR, Al Smith and Fiorello LaGuardia

[hrmjustin]

JENNIFER FERMINO

In a forty-minute long speech at Columbia University, Mayor de Blasio on Friday compared his ambitious plans to fight poverty and income disparity to those of liberal icons like Fiorello LaGuardia, Al Smith, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

De Blasio, speaking at an event to honor former Mayor David Dinkins, said those lions of the left - an ex-mayor, ex-governor, and ex-US president, respectively - had the necessary “audacity” to take on big challenges, even though they weren’t necessarily popular at the time.

“They didn't wait for some other force to step in. They didn't worry that it might not all be perfect or the criticisms that would come from any missteps,” said de Blasio.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/mayor-de-blasio-likens-city-hall-mission-fdr-al-smith-fiorella-la-guardia-blog-entry-1.1769010#ixzz2zvbABvyr