Sign up now to subscribe!
Spending His Own Dollars, Making Sense
Were it not for term limits, Mike Bloomberg could, of course, keep on being mayor.
But the city has term limits and the voters like them. After all, when there were rumors that Rudy Giuliani wanted to do away with term limits, there was a huge hue and cry against the move, despite the fact that the people like Rudy.
In a way, it's a real shame. Bloomberg has proven himself to be a genius. When he was elected, no one knew what to make of him. But using the same skills that made him a communication billionaire, he has acted in a largely sensible, down to earth way that defies the way of the old-style politicians. He does what he thinks is right, he rides the subway, he doesn't act like an old style political bum and the people think his major concern is doing good things for them and not for the inside political crowd that has always held the power in Gotham.
But now Mayor Mike's time is coming to a close. He says philanthropy is going to be his major concern in the future, but there have been persistent rumors that have had him running for everything from governor to president. Some of the political people in his orbit have been running this stuff up the flagpole and counting the saluters.
We may have a choice between the first female president, the first Jewish president or the first three times married Catholic president. Just think about it. It's positively mind-boggling.
Bloomberg, as is his custom, could finance his own campaign as he did when he ran for mayor and he would be beholden to no one. When Ralph "the Ego-Mouth" Nader runs, there is no question whom he pulls votes from. But if Mayor Mike runs, there is a question.
Giuliani is under a cloud. The Republicans are becoming increasingly tired of a vitriolic, right wing president who is spending us out of house and home. He got us into a war no one likes and which we cannot win because we don't even know what winning would look like. To win Republican conservative votes, Giuliani is going to have to agree with them on something. We know that he is pro-choice and has been pretty progressive on gay issues. He's tough on crime, which is why New Yorkers really like him. The problem is the war: Giuliani is going to have to be a hawk on Iraq. In this next election, that is not a good place to be.
Hillary's problem is that many people don't like her and they think—not completely incorrectly—that she will do just about anything to win. She is surrounded by so many professional types, like take-no-prisoners Howard Wolfson, that though she puts out at least one press release a day, people just don't know what she's really like.
We may have a choice between the first female president, the first Jewish president or the first three times married Catholic president. Just think about it. It's positively mind-boggling.
But because he rides the subway, they think they know Mayor Mike. The people are sick and tired of the inside politics, and that is why they elected Mayor Mike. Before this is all over, Bloomberg will probably find another ex-business type who has made more money than he can spend in a lifetime to take his place.
So there is a new model in politics. Benign, rich guy government. On paper it doesn't really pass the democratic test, but it does seem to be working in New York. The people respect their mayor. And if he thinks that he can win the White House, my bet is that he will take a stab at it. C
Alan Chartock is the president and CEO of WAMC/Northeast Public Radio and the executive publisher and project director of The Legislative Gazette.