If you want to lead a country, running a city is not a bad start — unless you are in America that is.
French Presidents including François Mitterrand, Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy all served as mayors. In the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte road-tested a ruthless anti-drug purge in Davao City before reaching the Malacanang Palace. Andrés Manuel López Obrador bossed Mexico City before he led Mexico. And as mayor of London, Boris Johnson plotted his rise to Prime Minister.
In America, a spell in the mayor’s office isn’t seen as the way to the White House. While three presidents did serve as mayors in decades past, many more have come from the Senate or the governor’s mansion. And mayors with presidential ambitions have often flamed out on the campaign trail — like New York City’s Rudy Giuliani in 2008.
But we might be at a hinge in history. Five former and current mayors are now battling for the Democratic presidential nomination, including late entrant Michael Bloomberg. Cory Booker, Bernie Sanders and Julián Castro first made their names as top dog in the city. The current Iowa front-runner, Pete Buttigieg, is still a mayor.
Of course most mayors don’t have foreign policy experience. But neither did Trump.
Source : Nbcnewyork