Is N.Y. ready for Yang?
Indeed. My guess: All of the above. Which means either that he's simply delightful or full of it. Possibly both. We tend to like entertaining politicians, or we used to before Donald Trump. In some ways, Yang and Trump are similar politicians, except in opposite ways. One light and hopeful, the other dark and brooding. Both Trump and Yang love the spotlight and know how to please a crowd. In March, Yang donned a hairnet to hand-pull noodles at a Chinatown restaurant. Not even Michael Dukakis would have done that. But Yang, the boyish 46-year-old, thought nothing of it. "They gave it to me," he explained, "and I put it on." While Trump glories in stadiums filled with raucous fans cheering his mean jokes, Yang makes targeted forays into neighborhoods with a BFF vibe. His campaign scrapbook is a collection of everyman vignettes starring Yang riding the Cyclone on Coney Island, shooting hoops, hanging with artists and the "nightlife" people he insists are vital to the city's revitalization.