Bill de Blasio on ‘Politics Nation’: Is it ‘divisive’ to talk about income inequality?
VIDEO - He hasn’t yet been certified as the Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City, but Bill de Blasio is already getting attacked by his likely opponent...
He hasn’t yet been certified as the Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City, but Bill de Blasio is already getting attacked by his likely opponent, Republican nominee, Joe Lhota. On Thursday Lhota accused de Blasio as running a divisive campaign.
“I think it’s divisive to not talk about the problems we’re facing,” de Blasio said. “We just had the worst economy since the Great Depression.”
De Blasio, who has made the difference between what he calls the “two New Yorks” a central part of his campaign so far, pointed to a recent report showing that 46% of New Yorkers were at or near the poverty line in 2011.
“It’s divisive not to bring that out in the open and talk about the inequalities that this city is facing right now,” he said. “And it starts with income inequality. But let’s talk about health care disparities and hospital closures, let’s talk about disparities in the education system, in policing. If we don’t talk about these things we can’t make our city better.”
But as Rev. Sharpton suggested, by talking about these disparities, de Blasio may be baiting his opponents to make “ugly” attacks.
“We’re talking about the truth here, we’re talking about the fact that folks are hurting in this city, that the city government is not doing all it can do to address these inequalities,” de Blasio said.
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