If I can make it here

New York elected a mayor—or simply another candidate for higher office.

Every ambitious politician eventually faces the same temptation.

To treat the office he holds as a stepping stone to the office he wants next.

There is nothing unusual about ambition.

Governors become senators.

Senators become presidents.

Mayors become national figures.

The question is not whether ambition exists.

The question is whether the public still receives the full attention of the official it elected.

The signs in today’s cartoon point in several directions.

Albany.

Congress.

The Senate.

Washington.

The concerns in the foreground point somewhere else entirely.

Food stores.

Medical clinics.

Neighborhoods.

The ordinary realities of daily life.

Meanwhile, along a quiet road in the background, moving vans head south toward Florida. They are not carrying protest signs. They are not chanting slogans. They are simply leaving.

We do not know whether the mayor’s future lies in Albany, Washington, or somewhere beyond.

We can only see what we can see.

A politician standing beneath a giant flag.

Citizens asking local questions.

Directional signs pointing toward higher office.

And a steady stream of people heading for the exits.

“If I can make it here, I’ll make it anywhere.”

The line is famously associated with New York.

But in this case, it may not belong to the city at all.