I originally opposed all 70+ year old candidates - but short of Mayor Pete, who has some clear electability issues in the name of a giant goose egg with African American voters, there are no other options. Always been a fan of Bloomberg from his days as Mayor.. so I'm throwing my support there.
The "he's buying his way into the election" thing makes me laugh. Yea. No shit. So is everyone. That's the rules of the game. The difference is this is all his money vs a slew of corporations. I want the rules changed as much as the next guy. But they're not changing this election cycle.
The idea that he can't be bought, that he makes his own decisions based on his own mind and not special interest dollars or dear of losing a base is exactly what has always appealed to me about him. I get why it's being used against him now, but this isn't Tom Steyer. This is a candidate with actual experience running the city in the country, and one of the 20 largest economies in the world - with a GDP roughly equivalent to that or Canada.
He took over a city that was quite literally smoldering, led a city reliant upon the financial sector through the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, and left the city in a better place. Financially stable, huge reductions in crime, increase in teacher salaries, more park land, increased life expectancy at a time where it was decreasing nationally, the smoking ban (which was a big deal at the time and now seems normal), universal free Pre-K3 and pre-k4.
That's pretty miraculous if you actually consider how it could have gone in the city most directly impacted by 9/11 and the great recession.
Are there criticisms? Of course. Stop and frisk, which he's admitted he was wrong about, is one. The counter argument is that shooting deaths plummeted during this time. Alas.
Inequality will undoubtedly be used against him - as it was in de Blasio's campaign. But de Blasio hasn't been able to make much progress there, either - as this is a complex national issue that is inevitably exacerbated in cities by their very nature.
So yea, I get it. He's incredibly wealthy in a time where that's a bad thing to many. But he's also an accomplished politician, not just a guy with lots of money who's bored.
I'm not concerned over the lack of support from the Bernie or nobody crowd - as nobody is going to win them over.
But with Biden sinking like a stone, a candidate like Bloomberg could do quite well in a general.
Very good post.
After these past few weeks with Senate trial, Iowa Caucus and SOTU address. I cannot reiterate enough, that I don't think that Sanders can be the nominee. He just can't.
And it's not his fault. Like Bloomberg being a billionaire at the wrong time, Sanders is a democratic socialist at the wrong time.
If Romney would have won, I think Bernie would have been cued up much better, but there is no fucking way with Trump.
Here's the difference with Bloomberg's problem vs. Bernie's.
Bernie's problem helps him somewhat in the primaries, but come general time, will cut against him. If the economy were in shambles, it may be different. But it is not.
Bloomberg on the other hand will get chastised in the primary for being a billionaire, but when the general comes, this will be one of his biggest assets.
And I'm not talking about his ability to outspend whatever Trump does.
I'm talking about voters. Voters will see a self made, multi-billionaire, who successfully ran one of the world's largest and most important cities, and put him up there next to Trump. Suddenly Trump starts to look like the phony piece of shit that he is. That contrast will have independents, and moderate repubs all over Bloomberg.
College educated suburbs? Forget about it. Bloomberg is the safe haven. A straight talking billionaire they can actually admit to voting for and not have to suffer through scandal after scandal after embarrassment, day in and day out.
Sure, he has areas that he will need to really work on to get a broad base of support. But I think 2018 proved that there is a goldmine of voters in the moderate range that went for Trump last time, but need someone else to vote for this time.
