If campaign slogans could be copyrighted, would the next round of candidates have anything left to say?
“Let’s be honest where we are today,†Bill de Blasio, the New York City public advocate who is seeking the Democratic mayoral nomination, has said on more than one occasion. And where are we? “A city,†Mr. de Blasio said several times, “that in too many ways has become a tale of two cities, a place where City Hall too often has catered to the interests of the elite rather than the needs of everyday New Yorkers.â€
Just who constitutes an everyday New Yorker is subjective, but, let’s be honest, the tale of two cities reference may sound a little familiar. Fernando Ferrer, the former Bronx borough president, invoked it in his unsuccessful 2001 and 2005 mayoral campaigns and was criticized for sounding divisive.
Mr. de Blasio, who is running an avowedly populist campaign, argues that the message is valid in a city confronting an “inequality crisis†â€" if not necessarily one of the same magnitude that inspired Dickens’s novel of the violent French Revolution. (And of course he is not the only candidate who recycles political slogans).
Mr. Ferrer, meanwhile, unabashedly acknowledges the message’s provenance.
“I stole it from Mario Cuomo, who stole it from R.F.K., who stole it from Michael Harrington, who stole it from Jacob Riis, who stole it from Dickens, etc.,†he said. “By now it should be public domain.â€
As to whether it resonated in his campaign, a Socratic Mr. Ferrer replied, “Since when is the truth not effective?â€
