Michael Bloomberg is Still Not Running for President

Aarticle on Bloomberg confuses words with deeds, a press conference with outcomes.
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Michael Bloomberg is still not running for president. It's true that he's on his way up to New Hampshire and it's true that he's visited 20 cities in the last 18 months. It's true that New York, a famed agricultural center is hosting, thanks to the mayor, this year's Farm Aid Concert, and yes, of course he's engaged in a number of high-profile initiatives with national implications calling for fewer guns and less pollution. But that's just because he's "Manager Mike," Time magazine's action hero stepping in, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, to succeed on issues like illegal guns and global warming where the federal government has failed.

In one recent 72-hour stretch, notes the Hotline, Bloomberg has been on the cover of Time, the subject of the feature story in BusinessWeek and a special guest on NBC's Nightly News where hard-boiled anchor tossed up softball questions. This was followed up by a mash note on Katie Couric's blog. She saw his presidential potential explaining that Bloomberg sets "the standard for the public official as skillful manager of the 21st century." And as proof she notes, "He treats women well, including his ex-wife. His 98-year-old mother Charlotte says, 'He calls me every day. Who could ask for more from a son?'"

Time magazine, in an article on Bloomberg and Schwarzenegger was similarly breathless. "With the mayors of more than 30 of the world's largest cities at his side, Bloomberg was opening a climate summit, highlighting his ambitious plan to slash the Big Apple's carbon emissions. Together, the mayors pledged to enlist their 250 million constituents in the fight against global warming. "Unfortunately, partisan politics has immobilized Washington," Bloomberg said. "But the public wants this problem solved. Cities can't wait any longer for national governments to act."

The Time article goes on to confuse words with deeds, a press conference with outcomes. Billionaire Bloomberg, a marginally competent manager, is a great salesman with a vast, heavily self-financed advertising budget. His much-touted plan to reduce pollution is unlikely to make its way through the New York State Assembly. His anti-gun speeches, agreeable to these ears, are indistinguishable from New Mayoral speeches of his predecessors over the last 40 years. They are likely to have an equivalent impact.

New York is danger of losing its standing as the financial capital of the world to London, the city's schools are abysmal, what little has been built at Ground Zero has been heavily subsidized, its Port Authority dysfunctional, but none of this shows up in the national press coverage. And why should Bloomberg worry? He's got bigger things to take care of. If his rival Rudy Giuliani is "America's Mayor," he's vying to be the World's Mayor..

But whatever else he is, Bloomberg is a marketing genius. He's managed to run a presidential campaign -- he hopes the Dems will nominate Edwards and the GOP Thompson, so he can have the center all to himself in running as a self-financed independent -- without arousing the slightest bit of skepticism from the argus-eyed national press. That's well-endowed talent.

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