If she ever had doubts about getting into the rough-and-tumble of politics, the mean-spirited aftermath of JFK's daughter's withdrawal from seeking Hillary Clinton's Senate seat should reinforce her decision.
Governor David Paterson's aides are anonymously attacking Caroline Kennedy (“The fiasco of the last 24 hours reinforced why the governor never intended to choose her”) and contradicting themselves with assertions that "problems involving taxes and a household employee surfaced" during her vetting.
On the other side, Time reports that her uncle's "circle is furious that his brain cancer has been cited by some in her camp as the reason" for stepping back.
"It looks horrible," says a former aide to Ted Kennedy. "It makes him look like he is at death's door."
This kind of rear-covering is only a small sample of what Caroline Kennedy would have encountered if she had taken the job and had to campaign for reelection.
Only New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg was kind and gracious about her exit.
“I’ll probably give her a call today and say, my thoughts are with you,” he said. “I wish her all the best and I think she should continue to stay involved in public service. She’s a great New Yorker and her husband is a really nice guy that I like.”
Amen to that. The Obama Administration should ask her to serve as ambassador to Great Britain (as her grandfather did) or France or Ireland, where her intelligence and instincts, along with her Kennedy and Bouvier background, could be an important American asset.
Showing posts with label Mike Bloomberg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mike Bloomberg. Show all posts
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Sunday, September 21, 2008
The Irrelevant Presidential Candidates
As they prepare for their first debate, Barack Obama and John McCain will be upstaged this week by people who will be out of power in four months--members of the Bush Administration and Congress, many of whom retire voluntarily or otherwise at year's end.
No matter what the candidates say, our economy will be on the operating table in Washington, with the surgery being performed, if not by quacks but lame-duck politicians, few of whom have shown any aptitude for making life-and-death decisions (see "War, Iraq" and "Children, Health Insurance for").
With bipartisan urgency, Congress will give Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson power to buy up to $700 billion in distressed mortgage-related assets from private holders.
“I hate the fact that we have to do it, but it’s better than the alternative,” Paulson said in his round of appearances of the Sunday morning talk shows. “This is a humbling, humbling time for the United States of America.”
The alternative would be an unthinkable meltdown of the financial markets that would eventually throw millions of people out of work as well as their homes.
On Meet the Press, New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg admitted that "nobody knows exactly what they should do, but anything is better than nothing. You've got to restore the public's belief and the market's belief that we will go on. And this is not just an American problem, it's financial markets around the world that are all interlinked and they're all collapsing."
That's the emergency agenda for this week, but Bloomberg, who made a fortune providing instant information for the money world, points out that "we're paying the price for the last years where we all wanted something for nothing, where we took risks because we were convinced that we would never have to pay, somebody else would pay on the downside, but we'd keep the profit. Congress has been unwilling to address the fundamentals of this country--an energy policy that makes sense, infrastructure, health care..."
All this will land in the lap of the next president and Congress that Americans will be voting into power six weeks from now. There will be no shortage of promises and finger-pointing in the campaigning until then, but to get us there, the lame ducks will have to get it right in the next few days.
No matter what the candidates say, our economy will be on the operating table in Washington, with the surgery being performed, if not by quacks but lame-duck politicians, few of whom have shown any aptitude for making life-and-death decisions (see "War, Iraq" and "Children, Health Insurance for").
With bipartisan urgency, Congress will give Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson power to buy up to $700 billion in distressed mortgage-related assets from private holders.
“I hate the fact that we have to do it, but it’s better than the alternative,” Paulson said in his round of appearances of the Sunday morning talk shows. “This is a humbling, humbling time for the United States of America.”
The alternative would be an unthinkable meltdown of the financial markets that would eventually throw millions of people out of work as well as their homes.
On Meet the Press, New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg admitted that "nobody knows exactly what they should do, but anything is better than nothing. You've got to restore the public's belief and the market's belief that we will go on. And this is not just an American problem, it's financial markets around the world that are all interlinked and they're all collapsing."
That's the emergency agenda for this week, but Bloomberg, who made a fortune providing instant information for the money world, points out that "we're paying the price for the last years where we all wanted something for nothing, where we took risks because we were convinced that we would never have to pay, somebody else would pay on the downside, but we'd keep the profit. Congress has been unwilling to address the fundamentals of this country--an energy policy that makes sense, infrastructure, health care..."
All this will land in the lap of the next president and Congress that Americans will be voting into power six weeks from now. There will be no shortage of promises and finger-pointing in the campaigning until then, but to get us there, the lame ducks will have to get it right in the next few days.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Wall Street Sinkings
It's like watching "Titanic" at a multiplex with sequels on every screen as Lehman Brothers goes under and other huge financial vessels with gaping holes are being towed toward hopefully safe harbors.
For older observers, the maritime metaphor recalls a sendup of Wall Street, "Where Are the Customers' Yachts?", first published in 1940 and reissued seven years ago. Billionaire Mike Bloomberg, New York's new Mayor, called it "a hilarious classic that proves the more things change the more they stay the same."
The new edition was on the reading list for interns at Bear Stearns, apparently to no avail, and few investors seemed to take seriously Fred Schwed's opening caution:
"'Wall Street,' reads the sinister old gag, 'is a street with a river at one end and a graveyard at the other.' This is striking but incomplete. It omits the kindergarten in the middle..."
But no one is laughing now. "The nation," says a New York Times editorial today," needs a new perspective on the markets, one that acknowledges the self-destructive bent of unfettered capitalism and its ability, unchecked, to wreak havoc far beyond Wall Street."
Both presidential candidates are out there placing blame and offering life rafts for the survivors, who will have to get out of the kindergarten fast and learn how to stay afloat.
For older observers, the maritime metaphor recalls a sendup of Wall Street, "Where Are the Customers' Yachts?", first published in 1940 and reissued seven years ago. Billionaire Mike Bloomberg, New York's new Mayor, called it "a hilarious classic that proves the more things change the more they stay the same."
The new edition was on the reading list for interns at Bear Stearns, apparently to no avail, and few investors seemed to take seriously Fred Schwed's opening caution:
"'Wall Street,' reads the sinister old gag, 'is a street with a river at one end and a graveyard at the other.' This is striking but incomplete. It omits the kindergarten in the middle..."
But no one is laughing now. "The nation," says a New York Times editorial today," needs a new perspective on the markets, one that acknowledges the self-destructive bent of unfettered capitalism and its ability, unchecked, to wreak havoc far beyond Wall Street."
Both presidential candidates are out there placing blame and offering life rafts for the survivors, who will have to get out of the kindergarten fast and learn how to stay afloat.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Smoke-Filled Lungs and Empty Stomachs
A 21st century corollary to the idealistic hope, "Suppose they gave a war and nobody came," could be "Suppose everybody stopped smoking and tobacco farmers grew food instead."
The outlandish idea of devoting millions of acres to feeding hungry people rather than shortening their lives is reflected in new stirrings by Big Government and Big Money.
The House of Representatives will vote this week on a breakthrough bill to empower the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco as it now regulates food, drugs and medical devices, an important step toward bringing a death-dealing industry under control.
Meanwhile, two billionaires--New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Microsoft founder Bill Gates--are pledging $375 million to fight what they called a global tobacco epidemic.
As food shortages rise and health care is unavailable to multitudes, inhabitants of a rational world might see crop rotation from tobacco to food as a logical way of filling empty stomachs and cutting down on cancer and heart disease at the same time.
We are living in a rational world, aren't we?
The outlandish idea of devoting millions of acres to feeding hungry people rather than shortening their lives is reflected in new stirrings by Big Government and Big Money.
The House of Representatives will vote this week on a breakthrough bill to empower the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco as it now regulates food, drugs and medical devices, an important step toward bringing a death-dealing industry under control.
Meanwhile, two billionaires--New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Microsoft founder Bill Gates--are pledging $375 million to fight what they called a global tobacco epidemic.
As food shortages rise and health care is unavailable to multitudes, inhabitants of a rational world might see crop rotation from tobacco to food as a logical way of filling empty stomachs and cutting down on cancer and heart disease at the same time.
We are living in a rational world, aren't we?
Friday, May 02, 2008
Dumbing Down the Election
Ever since George Bush sold the idea he would be a compassionate conservative, respect for voters' intelligence has been going rapidly downhill. The gas-tax holiday is a new low.
Described by New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg as "about the dumbest thing I’ve heard in an awful long time from an economic point of view” and in the face of bipartisan disapproval in Congress, John McCain and Hillary Clinton are out there trolling for votes on the theory that economically hard-pressed Americans are morons.
Giving consumers 18 cents on $4-a-gallon at the gas pump may sound good, but it would add up to a saving of less than $30 for most families, encourage consumption and cost the government $9 billion and the economy 300,000 jobs.
The tax supports the federal Highway Trust Fund, which finances road projects nationwide and is already facing a $3.4 billion shortfall, according to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation. The federal transportation department says every $1 billion in highway spending creates 34,779 jobs.
But the candidates are banking on voters' inability to grasp the fact that a pre-election handout won't solve their problems but make them worse in the long run. Even the Wall Street Journal says the idea “smacks of poll-driven gimmickry.”
But Hillary Clinton is out there claiming to be "the only candidate who has a plan to give relief to the nation’s drivers" while John McCain is promising them "a little break."
How dense do they think we are?
Described by New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg as "about the dumbest thing I’ve heard in an awful long time from an economic point of view” and in the face of bipartisan disapproval in Congress, John McCain and Hillary Clinton are out there trolling for votes on the theory that economically hard-pressed Americans are morons.
Giving consumers 18 cents on $4-a-gallon at the gas pump may sound good, but it would add up to a saving of less than $30 for most families, encourage consumption and cost the government $9 billion and the economy 300,000 jobs.
The tax supports the federal Highway Trust Fund, which finances road projects nationwide and is already facing a $3.4 billion shortfall, according to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation. The federal transportation department says every $1 billion in highway spending creates 34,779 jobs.
But the candidates are banking on voters' inability to grasp the fact that a pre-election handout won't solve their problems but make them worse in the long run. Even the Wall Street Journal says the idea “smacks of poll-driven gimmickry.”
But Hillary Clinton is out there claiming to be "the only candidate who has a plan to give relief to the nation’s drivers" while John McCain is promising them "a little break."
How dense do they think we are?
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Bloomberg's Kibitzer Candidacy
After teasing us for a year, Mike Bloomberg is putting his billion dollars back in his wallet and leaving a few platitudes on the plate instead.
In a New York Times OpEd titled "I'm Not Running for President, but...," New York's Mayor delivers a ringing concession speech for a presidential campaign that never started.
As he leaves the arena he didn't enter, Bloomberg chides the future nominees for being "afraid to level" with voters about global trade, global warming, immigration, improving schools and gun control.
"More of the same won’t do, on the economy or any other issue," he says. "We need innovative ideas, bold action and courageous leadership. That’s not just empty rhetoric, and the idea that we have the ability to solve our toughest problems isn’t some pie-in-the-sky dream."
But he stands ready, Bloomberg tells us, to help McCain and Obama or Clinton, "to push them forward, by using the means at my disposal to promote a real and honest debate."
In the event the Mayor has forgotten his ethnic roots, what he is proposing to be is a kibitzer, defined as "someone who looks on and offers unwanted, usually meddlesome advice to others."
But not entirely, Bloomberg warns us: "If a candidate takes an independent, nonpartisan approach--and embraces practical solutions that challenge party orthodoxy--I’ll join others in helping that candidate win the White House."
Does he mean Ralph Nader?
In a New York Times OpEd titled "I'm Not Running for President, but...," New York's Mayor delivers a ringing concession speech for a presidential campaign that never started.
As he leaves the arena he didn't enter, Bloomberg chides the future nominees for being "afraid to level" with voters about global trade, global warming, immigration, improving schools and gun control.
"More of the same won’t do, on the economy or any other issue," he says. "We need innovative ideas, bold action and courageous leadership. That’s not just empty rhetoric, and the idea that we have the ability to solve our toughest problems isn’t some pie-in-the-sky dream."
But he stands ready, Bloomberg tells us, to help McCain and Obama or Clinton, "to push them forward, by using the means at my disposal to promote a real and honest debate."
In the event the Mayor has forgotten his ethnic roots, what he is proposing to be is a kibitzer, defined as "someone who looks on and offers unwanted, usually meddlesome advice to others."
But not entirely, Bloomberg warns us: "If a candidate takes an independent, nonpartisan approach--and embraces practical solutions that challenge party orthodoxy--I’ll join others in helping that candidate win the White House."
Does he mean Ralph Nader?
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Nader, Bloomberg in "David and Goliath"
Now that his second favorite candidate, John Edwards, has dropped out, Ralph Nader is feeling an irresistible urge to pick up the fallen standard and hurl himself once again into the breach.
Ironically, Nader's inner struggle is reported by Bloomberg.com, part of the business news empire that made New York's mayor a billionaire who is, albeit silently, having the same crisis of conscience about saving the nation with an Independent run.
Inverting their physical attributes, Nader and Bloomberg would be playing David and Goliath in a sideshow of the '08 electoral circus to prove that (a) corporate America is crushing its people or (b) only a corporate genius can straighten out the mess Bush is leaving behind.
"Look at the major areas of injustice, deprivation and solutions that are not being addressed by the major candidates," Nader tells a Bloomberg reporter while denying that his 97,488 votes in Florida elected George W. Bush who won the state by just 537 votes over Al Gore in 2000.
Calling him a spoiler, Nader says, "is basically saying that small candidates are second-class citizens."
If Nader takes his pathological hatred of the Clintons into the arena this time, he won't be traveling in even that much style if Bloomberg comes in, too. Billionaires always go first-class and don't leave much space for anyone else.
Ironically, Nader's inner struggle is reported by Bloomberg.com, part of the business news empire that made New York's mayor a billionaire who is, albeit silently, having the same crisis of conscience about saving the nation with an Independent run.
Inverting their physical attributes, Nader and Bloomberg would be playing David and Goliath in a sideshow of the '08 electoral circus to prove that (a) corporate America is crushing its people or (b) only a corporate genius can straighten out the mess Bush is leaving behind.
"Look at the major areas of injustice, deprivation and solutions that are not being addressed by the major candidates," Nader tells a Bloomberg reporter while denying that his 97,488 votes in Florida elected George W. Bush who won the state by just 537 votes over Al Gore in 2000.
Calling him a spoiler, Nader says, "is basically saying that small candidates are second-class citizens."
If Nader takes his pathological hatred of the Clintons into the arena this time, he won't be traveling in even that much style if Bloomberg comes in, too. Billionaires always go first-class and don't leave much space for anyone else.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Big Brother Bloomberg
After the uproar over Bush Administration surveillance of American citizens, the news from Bloomberg country today is unnerving.
During his Hamlet-like deliberations about whether or not to run for President as an Independent, New York's Mayor has been collecting and collating a lot of information about all of us.
According to the Huffington Post, "Using the microtargeting model, research firms working for Bloomberg are gathering comprehensive information on voters throughout the country, such has who owns a home, has children in college, where they vacation, type of car or computer and past political support. All the puzzle pieces will then be arranged to create a picture of each individual."
After the Bush years, Americans may not be thrilled to have their picture taken this way by Bloomberg or anyone else, especially for the purpose of manipulating their political choices.
In the light of voters' recent attraction to Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee for their individuality, Mayor Mike would be well-advised not to start his run as Big Brother.
During his Hamlet-like deliberations about whether or not to run for President as an Independent, New York's Mayor has been collecting and collating a lot of information about all of us.
According to the Huffington Post, "Using the microtargeting model, research firms working for Bloomberg are gathering comprehensive information on voters throughout the country, such has who owns a home, has children in college, where they vacation, type of car or computer and past political support. All the puzzle pieces will then be arranged to create a picture of each individual."
After the Bush years, Americans may not be thrilled to have their picture taken this way by Bloomberg or anyone else, especially for the purpose of manipulating their political choices.
In the light of voters' recent attraction to Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee for their individuality, Mayor Mike would be well-advised not to start his run as Big Brother.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Geographic Long Shots
Deep in the bowels of some Las Vegas super-computer, what are the odds against a 2008 Presidential contest between a former Governor of Arkansas and a former First Lady of Arkansas? Or a three-way race involving a Mayor, a former Mayor and a Senator from New York?
Saturday, November 17, 2007
All the Money You Could Want
Most of us go through life wishing for more money but are never faced with deciding what to do with endless amounts. A news story today suggests how much imagination it takes to deal with no limits.
After a tax scam that yielded millions, the FBI raided a modest home and garage in Washington to find a Mercedes, tons of designer shoes and luggage, silver-plated iguana figurines, 13 watches including a Rolex, 90 purses (47 from Chanel), flutes and goblets by Steuben, a Faberge egg and a silver bar cart as well as courtesy cards used by regular gamblers in half a dozen Las Vegas and Atlantic City casinos, phone bills of $1500 a month and travel receipts from all over. They filled 25 boxes with clothes and listed 414 unidentified pieces in the inventory.
But all this is only a testament to the banality of greed, a kind of Home Shopping Network vision of huge wealth. Without imagination, the woman who apparently embezzled more than $20 million from the D.C. government used it to become a glorified bag lady.
How much more complicated is it for the Warren Buffets, Bill Gateses, and Oprahs of the world, trying to do good, a Mike Bloomberg, pondering whether to buy the White House, or a Rupert Murdoch, too busy trying to acquire more power and influence to spend much actual money in his own life?
For some, it can produce deprivation by surfeit, psychological chaos (pace Paris Hilton and her ilk). For box-office actors and superstar athletes, there are booby traps of hubris and self-importance.
For politicians controlling huge amounts of other people's money, see the President and Congress squabbling over which is acting more like the teenager with an unlimited credit card.
For the rest of us, there is the iffy consolation of believing it's too much money that may actually be the root of all evil.
After a tax scam that yielded millions, the FBI raided a modest home and garage in Washington to find a Mercedes, tons of designer shoes and luggage, silver-plated iguana figurines, 13 watches including a Rolex, 90 purses (47 from Chanel), flutes and goblets by Steuben, a Faberge egg and a silver bar cart as well as courtesy cards used by regular gamblers in half a dozen Las Vegas and Atlantic City casinos, phone bills of $1500 a month and travel receipts from all over. They filled 25 boxes with clothes and listed 414 unidentified pieces in the inventory.
But all this is only a testament to the banality of greed, a kind of Home Shopping Network vision of huge wealth. Without imagination, the woman who apparently embezzled more than $20 million from the D.C. government used it to become a glorified bag lady.
How much more complicated is it for the Warren Buffets, Bill Gateses, and Oprahs of the world, trying to do good, a Mike Bloomberg, pondering whether to buy the White House, or a Rupert Murdoch, too busy trying to acquire more power and influence to spend much actual money in his own life?
For some, it can produce deprivation by surfeit, psychological chaos (pace Paris Hilton and her ilk). For box-office actors and superstar athletes, there are booby traps of hubris and self-importance.
For politicians controlling huge amounts of other people's money, see the President and Congress squabbling over which is acting more like the teenager with an unlimited credit card.
For the rest of us, there is the iffy consolation of believing it's too much money that may actually be the root of all evil.
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Schwarzenegger on Boffo Ballot Box Office
Gov. Arnold, who knows about these things, is advising his party on how to get the grosses up next year. He told a Republican convention this weekend that they are "dying at the box office" and “not filling the seats” because they have "lost the middle.”
“I have been a Republican since Nixon,” Schwarzenegger said. “I have been a Republican in spite of years of debates with Maria, the entire Shriver clan and all the Kennedys up at Hyannis Port. Believe me, it would have been far easier to abandon my Republican identity years ago.”
The majority of Republicans want health care reform and action to reduce global warming, he pointed out, suggesting their leaders follow them.
“I am of the Reagan view that we should not go off the cliff with flags flying,” Schwarzenegger said, quoting his fellow actor-governor who became President: "We cannot become a narrow sectarian party in which all must swear allegiance to prescribed commandments...This kind of party soon disappears in a blaze of glorious defeat."
The Governor went even further back for a new role model for the party, “President Eisenhower, the moderate military man who understood the need for logistics and infrastructure and created the Interstate Highway System--the largest public works project in American history. The majority of Republicans understand the need for investment.”
Schwarzenegger named no names, but another fellow actor, Fred Thompson, does not sound like good casting for the role he described. He has spoken warmly of Rudy Giuliani and, if all else fails, there is another New York Mayor he likes, Mike Bloomberg, who may run as an Independent.
“I have been a Republican since Nixon,” Schwarzenegger said. “I have been a Republican in spite of years of debates with Maria, the entire Shriver clan and all the Kennedys up at Hyannis Port. Believe me, it would have been far easier to abandon my Republican identity years ago.”
The majority of Republicans want health care reform and action to reduce global warming, he pointed out, suggesting their leaders follow them.
“I am of the Reagan view that we should not go off the cliff with flags flying,” Schwarzenegger said, quoting his fellow actor-governor who became President: "We cannot become a narrow sectarian party in which all must swear allegiance to prescribed commandments...This kind of party soon disappears in a blaze of glorious defeat."
The Governor went even further back for a new role model for the party, “President Eisenhower, the moderate military man who understood the need for logistics and infrastructure and created the Interstate Highway System--the largest public works project in American history. The majority of Republicans understand the need for investment.”
Schwarzenegger named no names, but another fellow actor, Fred Thompson, does not sound like good casting for the role he described. He has spoken warmly of Rudy Giuliani and, if all else fails, there is another New York Mayor he likes, Mike Bloomberg, who may run as an Independent.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Bloomberg-Hagel '08
An Independent presidential ticket is shaping up with Mike Bloomberg, New York’s Mayor, and Sen. Chuck Hagel as his running mate. Increasingly, there are clues about the intentions of both.
Bloomberg was in Washington this week to make a speech about the new Census poverty figures, but he found time to advise reporters on how to cover the 2008 presidential campaigns, while listing issues--Iraq, Social Security and immigration--that candidates should address. Then he posed with supporters holding signs reading: “Bloomberg ’08: DraftMichael.com.”
A while back, Bloomberg had dinner with Sen. Chuck Hagel, the Vietnam veteran who has been opposing the war in Iraq for some time now and has been toying with an Independent run for President himself.
Now we have word that Hagel is unlikely to run for re-election to the Senate, opening the way for former Sen. and Gov. Bob Kerrey to go for the Nebraska seat. Kerrey, a Democrat and good friend who has said he will run only if Hagel doesn’t, is now preparing to go for it.
A Bloomberg-Hagel ticket would have the Mayor’s billions and his executive experience to pair up with the Senator’s idealism and legislative know-how in the Washington maze.
They wouldn’t get much of the NASCAR vote, but this newest odd couple certainly would make the race interesting for the two New Yorkers who are likely to get the Republican and Democratic nominations
Bloomberg was in Washington this week to make a speech about the new Census poverty figures, but he found time to advise reporters on how to cover the 2008 presidential campaigns, while listing issues--Iraq, Social Security and immigration--that candidates should address. Then he posed with supporters holding signs reading: “Bloomberg ’08: DraftMichael.com.”
A while back, Bloomberg had dinner with Sen. Chuck Hagel, the Vietnam veteran who has been opposing the war in Iraq for some time now and has been toying with an Independent run for President himself.
Now we have word that Hagel is unlikely to run for re-election to the Senate, opening the way for former Sen. and Gov. Bob Kerrey to go for the Nebraska seat. Kerrey, a Democrat and good friend who has said he will run only if Hagel doesn’t, is now preparing to go for it.
A Bloomberg-Hagel ticket would have the Mayor’s billions and his executive experience to pair up with the Senator’s idealism and legislative know-how in the Washington maze.
They wouldn’t get much of the NASCAR vote, but this newest odd couple certainly would make the race interesting for the two New Yorkers who are likely to get the Republican and Democratic nominations
Monday, July 30, 2007
Horny Billionaire
New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg once described being a single, straight billionaire in Manhattan as a “wet dream.” Now he may be having nocturnal emissions about moving to Washington.
While feigning disinterest, Bloomberg is nonetheless out there talking like a Presidential coach if not a candidate, most recently on “Good Morning America” rebuking current contenders for pandering to the public and not confronting what he believes are the big issues: public education, guns and crime.
"Nobody's willing to...say explicitly, 'This is what I believe. This is how I would improve education, for example,'" he said.
He may not go for a four-year lease on the White House, but he certainly sounds like a man hoping for some sleepovers there.
The gossip on Mayor Mike’s pre-City Hall years is that he would ogle an attractive woman and say, “I’d like to do her.” If he goes for the Presidency with his billions, Americans will have to make sure he is not trying to “do” us all.
While feigning disinterest, Bloomberg is nonetheless out there talking like a Presidential coach if not a candidate, most recently on “Good Morning America” rebuking current contenders for pandering to the public and not confronting what he believes are the big issues: public education, guns and crime.
"Nobody's willing to...say explicitly, 'This is what I believe. This is how I would improve education, for example,'" he said.
He may not go for a four-year lease on the White House, but he certainly sounds like a man hoping for some sleepovers there.
The gossip on Mayor Mike’s pre-City Hall years is that he would ogle an attractive woman and say, “I’d like to do her.” If he goes for the Presidency with his billions, Americans will have to make sure he is not trying to “do” us all.
Friday, July 06, 2007
All the Votes Money Can Buy
Despite the clamor over his defecating dog, Mitt Romney is in clover for the early primary races. Polls show him ahead in Iowa and New Hampshire after starting the year in single digits.
But that was $32 million and 4,500 commercials ago. While McCain, struggling to raise money, lays off staffers and Giuliani keeps repeating his mantra, 9/11, Romney has been selling his blandness like soap or toothpaste, boosting his brand share seven to nine percentage points above them in those early states.
Nationally, the man who has spent $0 million, still undeclared Fred Thompson seems to be proving that absence makes voters hearts grow fonder by taking a 27-24 percent lead over Giuliani.
But Romney can’t keep spending at that pace and Thompson can’t hide forever. Will charisma trump cash? But then again, New York billionaire Mayor Mike Bloomberg, now a former Republican, may come in to run as an Independent.
If he does, the question becomes moot.
But that was $32 million and 4,500 commercials ago. While McCain, struggling to raise money, lays off staffers and Giuliani keeps repeating his mantra, 9/11, Romney has been selling his blandness like soap or toothpaste, boosting his brand share seven to nine percentage points above them in those early states.
Nationally, the man who has spent $0 million, still undeclared Fred Thompson seems to be proving that absence makes voters hearts grow fonder by taking a 27-24 percent lead over Giuliani.
But Romney can’t keep spending at that pace and Thompson can’t hide forever. Will charisma trump cash? But then again, New York billionaire Mayor Mike Bloomberg, now a former Republican, may come in to run as an Independent.
If he does, the question becomes moot.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Bloomberg's Best Bet: Run as a Democrat
This weekend’s TV talkathon has been about New York’s Mayor leaving the Republican Party to run for President as an Independent. But as this politically dissonant year goes on, it may make more sense for Mike Bloomberg to go for the Democratic nomination.
Anyone willing to spend half a billion dollars on a campaign, as Bloomberg is, should not be eager to put a sizable portion of it into creating an organization and getting on the ballot in every state.
A lifelong Democrat, Bloomberg became a Republican for tactical reasons in 2001 to run for Mayor. Now he has changed his registration to “unaffiliated.”
For the past six years, the Mayor has been a Republican in name only. A leading Democratic political consultant said about him this week: “If you closed your eyes and you were told that someone was pro-public education, pro-choice, pro-immigration rights, pro-gun control, pro-civil rights, pro-gay rights and pro-women’s rights--you would be pretty happy if you were a Democrat.”
When that candidate has been called America’s “leading centrist” by George Will and potentially “the most efficient President” by media baron and fellow billionaire Rupert Murdoch, visions of a political realignment began to seem possible: the Democratic center freed from the stigma of “special interests” coupled with traditional pre-Bush Republicans who want to take back their party from the radical right allied with voters so disgusted with both parties that they call themselves Independent.
Two big but not insurmountable obstacles to the Democratic nomination are Hillary Clinton and the war in Iraq, and it may be their nexus that could open the door for Bloomberg.
She is still struggling to overcome her 2002 vote, seen by anti-war Democrats as a huge albatross. As Mayor of the nation’s most vulnerable city, Bloomberg has been less than ardent in supporting our involvement in Iraq and has begun to back away from it.
Two weeks ago, he told Google employees that America “is really in trouble.” “There’s the war, there is our relationships around the world,” Bloomberg said. “Our reputation has been hurt very badly in the last few years” and he criticized a “go-it-alone mentality” in an increasingly interconnected world.
Despite all the money and organization behind her, Hillary Clinton’s negatives will not disappear and, from here to November ’08, Democrats will be worrying about the Republicans’ glee at the prospect of running against her, no matter who they nominate.
Bloomberg’s lack of passion and charisma may be less than fatal to his chances for the Democratic nomination. Bill Clinton almost put the 1988 convention to sleep with his boring oratory before remaking himself as the anti-Bush four years later.
Hillary may be too late, Obama too early and John Edwards too insubstantial for ’08. Al Gore, who seems to have lost his taste for elective politics, might find Bloomberg more palatable than any of them in both substance and temperament to stand in for what he stands for.
Behind the scenes, the Mayor has kept his ties to the Democratic Leadership Council and other power centers of the party. If he doesn’t wait too long, he could get into that game and rake in all the chips.
If he can create something that passes for unity in his once-and-future party, Bloomberg would be in good shape for a head-to-head confrontation with Giuliani’s volatility, Romney’s emptiness (his Mormon faith might be more of an issue than the Mayor’s Jewish background) or Fred Thompson’s lack of experience in managing a corner grocery store, let alone the largest bureaucracy in the world.
To run as an Independent, Bloomberg would have to depend on support from the likes of Unity08, which is planning online voting to pick their candidate, not too promising for someone who wants to win not to run a feel-good campaign like Ralph Nader or Ross Perot.
There is precedent for party-switching by New York Mayors. John Lindsay was elected as a Republican in 1965, turned Democrat in 1971 and ran for President in his new party’s primaries a year later. He failed, but Bloomberg has much more going for him.
Last month, while being honored as one of Time’s 100 most influential people, the Mayor paid warm tribute to Red Auerbach, the legendary coach of the Boston Celtics, for knowing how to win with honest effort and without “trash talk.”
He was obviously thinking about more than basketball.
Anyone willing to spend half a billion dollars on a campaign, as Bloomberg is, should not be eager to put a sizable portion of it into creating an organization and getting on the ballot in every state.
A lifelong Democrat, Bloomberg became a Republican for tactical reasons in 2001 to run for Mayor. Now he has changed his registration to “unaffiliated.”
For the past six years, the Mayor has been a Republican in name only. A leading Democratic political consultant said about him this week: “If you closed your eyes and you were told that someone was pro-public education, pro-choice, pro-immigration rights, pro-gun control, pro-civil rights, pro-gay rights and pro-women’s rights--you would be pretty happy if you were a Democrat.”
When that candidate has been called America’s “leading centrist” by George Will and potentially “the most efficient President” by media baron and fellow billionaire Rupert Murdoch, visions of a political realignment began to seem possible: the Democratic center freed from the stigma of “special interests” coupled with traditional pre-Bush Republicans who want to take back their party from the radical right allied with voters so disgusted with both parties that they call themselves Independent.
Two big but not insurmountable obstacles to the Democratic nomination are Hillary Clinton and the war in Iraq, and it may be their nexus that could open the door for Bloomberg.
She is still struggling to overcome her 2002 vote, seen by anti-war Democrats as a huge albatross. As Mayor of the nation’s most vulnerable city, Bloomberg has been less than ardent in supporting our involvement in Iraq and has begun to back away from it.
Two weeks ago, he told Google employees that America “is really in trouble.” “There’s the war, there is our relationships around the world,” Bloomberg said. “Our reputation has been hurt very badly in the last few years” and he criticized a “go-it-alone mentality” in an increasingly interconnected world.
Despite all the money and organization behind her, Hillary Clinton’s negatives will not disappear and, from here to November ’08, Democrats will be worrying about the Republicans’ glee at the prospect of running against her, no matter who they nominate.
Bloomberg’s lack of passion and charisma may be less than fatal to his chances for the Democratic nomination. Bill Clinton almost put the 1988 convention to sleep with his boring oratory before remaking himself as the anti-Bush four years later.
Hillary may be too late, Obama too early and John Edwards too insubstantial for ’08. Al Gore, who seems to have lost his taste for elective politics, might find Bloomberg more palatable than any of them in both substance and temperament to stand in for what he stands for.
Behind the scenes, the Mayor has kept his ties to the Democratic Leadership Council and other power centers of the party. If he doesn’t wait too long, he could get into that game and rake in all the chips.
If he can create something that passes for unity in his once-and-future party, Bloomberg would be in good shape for a head-to-head confrontation with Giuliani’s volatility, Romney’s emptiness (his Mormon faith might be more of an issue than the Mayor’s Jewish background) or Fred Thompson’s lack of experience in managing a corner grocery store, let alone the largest bureaucracy in the world.
To run as an Independent, Bloomberg would have to depend on support from the likes of Unity08, which is planning online voting to pick their candidate, not too promising for someone who wants to win not to run a feel-good campaign like Ralph Nader or Ross Perot.
There is precedent for party-switching by New York Mayors. John Lindsay was elected as a Republican in 1965, turned Democrat in 1971 and ran for President in his new party’s primaries a year later. He failed, but Bloomberg has much more going for him.
Last month, while being honored as one of Time’s 100 most influential people, the Mayor paid warm tribute to Red Auerbach, the legendary coach of the Boston Celtics, for knowing how to win with honest effort and without “trash talk.”
He was obviously thinking about more than basketball.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Ralph Nader's Finishing School
The phrase “Independent candidate” evokes a Pavlovian response from America’s perennial Presidential also-ran.
Ralph Nader pops up today to tell us Mike Bloomberg is interesting but unpredictable: "I really like the stand he took against smoking, but he goes along with corporate welfare in New York and tax-funded stadiums. So he is unfinished in that way."
In 2000, Nader finished Al Gore and gave us George Bush. Now he hints that, if Bloomberg is not up to the job, he may make himself available to finish off a Democratic candidate in ‘08, particularly one named Clinton.
"She is a political coward," Nader says. "She goes around pandering to powerful interest groups on the one hand and flattering general audiences on the other. She doesn't even have the minimal political fortitude of her husband."
The response from the Clinton camp: "His entry into the race, even to those who voted for him in 2000, would be just another vainglorious effort to promote himself at the expense of the best interests of the public. Ralph Nader is unsafe in any election."
That may be a bit harsh. Try “irrelevant.”
Ralph Nader pops up today to tell us Mike Bloomberg is interesting but unpredictable: "I really like the stand he took against smoking, but he goes along with corporate welfare in New York and tax-funded stadiums. So he is unfinished in that way."
In 2000, Nader finished Al Gore and gave us George Bush. Now he hints that, if Bloomberg is not up to the job, he may make himself available to finish off a Democratic candidate in ‘08, particularly one named Clinton.
"She is a political coward," Nader says. "She goes around pandering to powerful interest groups on the one hand and flattering general audiences on the other. She doesn't even have the minimal political fortitude of her husband."
The response from the Clinton camp: "His entry into the race, even to those who voted for him in 2000, would be just another vainglorious effort to promote himself at the expense of the best interests of the public. Ralph Nader is unsafe in any election."
That may be a bit harsh. Try “irrelevant.”
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