The Reasons Why Bill Thompson Lost the NYC Mayoral Election

We live in a country that is quick to blame everyone but themselves when a situation doesn't work for them. In politics, it's not always about money despite people thinking so. Specifically, in New York City, people are trying to say Bloomberg bought his way into office each time he ran, but that isn't the case, in my opinion. But, let me focus on why Bill Thompson did not win the election.

The Soft Exterior: First off, Bill Thompson has a soft exterior. This is New York City, you HAVE to have a certain attitude and mind set to lead this city as evidenced by our past mayors. He didn't have any spirit, looks aloof and doesn't seem genuine or even sure of what he says or at least that's the impression I have. Bill Thompson has never had fire in him and when he tried to display that, it look forced, like his political strategist told him he has to have that fire in his eyes when he campaigns. Look at our recent mayors, Ed Koch, David Dinkins, Rudy Guiliani and Michael Bloomberg! All of them possesses that fire that if you wanted a fight, they would fight you until you're defeated or if they lose, it would be the toughest fight they've been in. Can you honestly see that in Bill Thompson?


The Obama Factor: First off, for anyone to say that President Barack Obama didn't do enough for Bill Thompson needs to place the crack pipe down. The Obama factor backfired in the Virginia and New Jersey elections where both candidates Obama campaigned for, lost, so what can you say now about the Obama factor? Plus, it was evident from the half-ass endorsement Obama DID give, he was better off not injecting Obama in his campaign. I mean, the man campaigned in New Jersey for Corzine like he was actually running for governor of New Jersey himself! So, the next time you want to lay blame, look at the results of the governors' elections in New Jersey and Virginia.

The No Platform Position: I'm sorry, but you can't run a campaign on saying your opponent extended term limits and he is outspending your campaign and THAT'S the reason you should vote for him. I watched the debates, I've read what was reported in the newspapers and the internet, I've heard his sound bites and watched him at press conferences and speaking opportunities. Bill Thompson did NOT give me a reason to vote for HIM, he only gave me a reason to NOT vote for Bloomberg and I am MUCH smarter than that!

The D Minus Factor: In their second debate, at the end of it, the moderator asked Bill Thompson to rate his opponent, Michael Bloomberg, in his job performance and his response just made me want to vote for Bloomberg even more! He gave Bloomberg a D minus and then quipped that he was being nice in giving him that grade. Now, I understand him not wanting to give Bloomberg a high grade because it would be self-defeating, but I think he looked foolish in saying a D minus because Bloomberg has done and is doing a much better job than Rudy Guiliani. And to make matters worse, Bloomberg responded by saying Thompson is a good controller, thus, in my mind, placing the final nail in that coffin!

Expecting Black Support: This is an area I really get upset about because it always seems as if whenever there is a Black candidate for any political office, we Blacks are a lock to vote for the candidate simply because he/she is Black. That thinking has buried candidates before and I think it burned Bill Thompson. In my conversations with many black people who were watching the NYC mayoral contest, a very small percentage vowed to vote for Thompson and most agreed that he can't get our votes on the premise of him being a Black man. Once again, he had no message outside of Bloomberg extending term limits and him buying his way into office and many Blacks saw through that.

Not Effectively Defending His Board of Education Tenure: Michael Bloomberg snatched control of the Board of Education partly because of the way Bill Thompson ran it. So why didn't Bill Thompson defend himself? By not proving Bloomberg wrong, it looked like he conceded that fact to Bloomberg and Bloomberg made it a point to keep harping on the fact that the schools were in shambles before he took over.

Low Voter Turnout: How is it that there were record turnout in the election just a year ago and now this election involving another Black man for a major office generated low turnout? I'm sure many people who were Bloomberg supporters just knew he would win convincingly so they stayed away from the polls. Bill Thompson should have been driving people to want to vote instead of allowing people to not care about the election.

Not Having The Confidence of Fellow Democrats: Going back to the top Democrat in the country, President Obama gave a luke-warm endorsement and he didn't even give the endorsement himself, instead, having an underling make the announcement. and even when pressed upon his luke-warm endorsement, he basically said as the leader of the Democratic Party, he gave his blessing to a fellow Democrat, not saying that he thought Bill Thompson would be good for the job. You had many other prominent New York Democrats either waiting until the last possible minute to give an endorsement or flatly endorsing Michael Bloomberg. This didn't bear well for Democratic voters as well, especially being a heavily Democratic town, most endorsements seemed along party lines at best instead of being fully behind Bill Thompson.

I think Bill Thompson has 4 years to get it together and run again so this time he will win. I really like Thompson but, as i stated earlier, he gave me NO reason to vote for him, hopefully, he'll get wind of this and follow this advice.