In hindsight, Koch still defends his outspokenstyle as mayor. The people of New York, he says,demand that a mayor take a vocal stand on almostevery issue, even foreign policy matters.
"If you have 175 different races, religions andethnic groups, and they all have differentaspirations, and they want you to speak out--theIrish on Northern Ireland, or the Hispanics onNicaragua or Cuba, Jews on Israel, Blacks on SouthAfrica. Now supposing the mayor said, 'well that'snot my job.' They'd throw him out. It is his job."
"And every mayor has spoken out on theseissues. Robert Wagner would not meet with King IbnSaud. [Former mayors] Lindsay and Beame hadcomparable situations."
"I maybe have more"--Koch searches for aword--"flair at getting attention paid to mycomments."
Many maintain that it was this flair--ofteninterpreted by critics as the result of a massiveego--that accounted for Koch's popularitythroughout much of his 12-year tenure of mayor.But Koch still argues that he did an excellent jobas mayor, better, in fact, than he expects currentMayor David N. Dinkins to do.
"I thought I was a pretty good mayor, and thatI governed the city well, and I think if you askmost people, I think you would find that a lot ofpeople miss me.
"That's at least what they tell me as I walkdown the streets," he adds.
Even so, Koch does not hesitate for a momentwhen asked if he has any plans to seek electedoffice in the future.
"Never," he says, with an air of finality. "Igave 25 years of my life to public service."
"I have given blood at home and at the store,"he adds.