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Get a link in your mailbox to your weekly NYPD Confidential column as soon as it is published! Click on the button above right on this page — or here — to sign up for this feature. Principles and PunchesMarch 11, 2019 So, Michael Bloomberg has decided — yet again — not to run for president. Forget his mealy-mouthed explanation: that his path to the Democratic nomination is too narrow. The real reason, as NYPD Confidential has stated in the past, is that while Mayor Mike is willing to spend bushels of his money, he is afraid to take a punch. This election cycle around, the punches would have come not only from Donald Trump but from the Democratic Party’s left wing. Bloomberg is a white male, a moderate, a self-made billionaire, all of which seems anathema to much of the Democratic left. He’s also Jewish and, like virtually all Jews of a certain generation, a fan of Israel. This could lead to attacks on him by freshman Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and her ilk. It’s all too bad because Bloomberg would probably make an excellent president. He’s smart, restrained and [for the most part] principled. Unlike most billionaires and successful politicians, he usually keeps his ego under control. Any president, Democrat or Republican, would be foolish not to consider him for a top cabinet post, such as the Treasury or State Departments. Then there’s the irony of his tenure as mayor of New York City. Although he served three mostly successful terms, presiding over continued declines in violent crime, his mayoralty would probably be criticized by the Democratic left as discriminatory against black New Yorkers. |
So, what happened? Well, like virtually all billionaires and successful politicians, Mayor Mike fell in love with himself. In 2009, he considered getting on the national ticket, as president or vice-president. He ultimately dropped both bids for lack of support.
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