We are speaking a week and change since Adams bowed to the inevitable and dropped his bid for re-election. There is a lot he wants to get off his chest. When he was elected four years ago, Adams seemed poised to be a transformational figure. Amid rising crime and racial tensions, the former police captain promised there need be no compromise between safety and justice. Like Joe Biden’s election a year earlier, his win was a triumph of the Democratic Party’s moderate Black base over the radical-chic faculty liberals and their alienating ideas. “I’m the Biden of Brooklyn,” Adams boasted. “Look at me and you’re seeing the future of the Democratic Party.” Aides whispered that he could run for President.