Win or Lose: De Blasio and Universal Pre-K

Those of us who were born in the 1960s and spent our teenage years in the 1970s remember that era as a time during which triumph, success and heroism were often muddled affairs. Half a step behind the 1960s counterculture and at the tail end of the baby boom, we came of age in a time of the anti-hero. More often than not, popular culture presented a world in which the loser was a winner, and what might be considered losing was often a sublime triumph.

My parents' generation had movies like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. When U.S. Senator Jefferson Smith, desperate and isolated at the end of his filibuster, beseeches his colleagues that "lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for," everyone knows that he will win. In contrast, my generation had The Candidate. At the end of that movie, when Bill McKay has prevailed in his improbable race for U.S. Senate, he is left not knowing what he has won.

The best movies taught us again and again that winning and losing are not always clear or easy to define. It doesn't end well for Cool Hand Luke (killed), Butch and Sundance (killed and killed), Randall McMurphy (lobotomized, then killed) or Billy Jack (arrested). Even Rocky Balboa actually loses to Apollo Creed. Yet, it was understood that each of these characters is triumphant—death, arrest, defeat notwithstanding. 

I am reminded of this dynamic as I try to make sense of what is likely to transpire over the next several days in Albany.

In all likelihood, on or before April 1, New York State will have a budget, and this year that budget will fund a statewide universal pre-K program. What that budget is not likely to include, however, is authorization for New York City to raise taxes on high-income earners to fund universal pre-K. Whether this outcome is perceived as a win or a loss for Mayor Bill de Blasio is largely in his own hands. And that's what got me thinking about the times in which I grew up.

Since before his election, de Blasio has stressed that the passage of universal pre-K is not enough; instead, what remains of paramount interest to his Administration is a dedicated funding stream: a tax on individuals earning incomes of over $500,000 per year.

For months, many have wondered whether the mayor will ultimately embrace what is included in the budget—statewide funding for universal pre-K but no new tax—and declare victory. The argument for characterizing it as a win is unimpeachable, or so say the pundits: it allows de Blasio to deliver on a major campaign promise, avoids friction with Albany, and perhaps even preserves the tax issue for another day.

Yet at least until now it has seemed that the mayor will be steadfast in refusing to accept this outcome as a pure victory.

Perhaps part of de Blasio's brain, like my own, is indelibly imprinted with the gestalt of the 1970s. If that's the case, what we might be witnessing is a politician who believes that at times losing is better than winning and that a loss might ennoble his cause. If so, then de Blasio might not want to claim victory. Instead, he might grudgingly take what the budget gives, while at the same time proclaiming it is not what is needed and insisting that a partial win is no win at all.

Elevation of a cause through defeat and spiritual transcendence, and ultimate liberation through defiance, was the ethos of the world of my youth. No doubt, it made for some great drama. Whether it proves to be smart politics today and whether it is a strategy that serves Mayor de Blasio's objectives—as well as the needs of the City—may be revealed in the coming months.

Steven M. Cohen served as secretary to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. He is currently a partner with the law firm Zuckerman Spaeder and the executive vice president and chief administrative officer of MacAndrews & Forbes.