Thursday, May 31, 2007
Is Mayor Michael Bloomberg getting ready to perform miracles?
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
The news that Michael Bloomberg has reopened his 2001 and 2005 campaign website www.mikebloomberg.com must give both the Democrats and Republicans the heebee-jeebees. No matter that he has assured the world that he is not running for president more often than Paris Hilton has been arrested (thank you Clyde Haberman of the Paper of Record), or that he has no intentions for the governorship, the stakeholders of Clinton and Giuliani still have nightmares of Ralph Nader and Ross Perot floating before their eyes.
Is Bloomberg serious? Examining the above website (don’t get caught up in www.bloomber.com, that is his company’s site for selling information products), you will find that the home page announces our man to be the best bargain in the world, at $1 per year. Further down, news articles speak of his plans of a hybrid taxi fleet (all 13,000) by 2010, a high school graduation rate at a historical high of 60%, and keynote addresses given at the C40 summit of the world’s largest cities’ mayors, and at the Greater Houston Partnership luncheon, all recent events.
Looking at issues, we also find announcements of NYC’s lowest ever unemployment rate of 4.3% in March 2007, and a paper he has written for a British medical journal, suggesting a drop of 100M in the deaths of smokers worldwide, if every country were to reduce cigarette use rate. More on poverty, affordable housing, job creation, education, environment and sustainability, arts and culture. Is this a Mayor trying to sell New Yorkers on $8 fee for bringing in cars below 86th Street, the current effort, or the 2nd Ave subway? No, this stuff is more national, international, if you please, it has all positives, no wars mentioned, nor Muslims or Arabs.
The selfsame great Haberman also has unearthed that our leader had, among friends and before the 2001 election, disclosed the four jobs that he would leave his megabillion company for – mayoralty of NYC, presidency of the US, secretary-generalship of the UN and presidency of the World Bank. Recently cornered by the tireless Clyde, about accepting the bank job, the only one available at present, he dismissed this possibility. So there, what alternatives are we left with? The governorship, given Spitzer’s bumbling in Albany? (The Post’s tell-all Fred Dicker discloses inactivity and arrogance in the direction of state operations - in the chief of staff’s office, the deputy, one-time AG candidate Sean Patrick Maloney who conducted an impressive on-the-cheap Internet campaign via irritating weekly spams has turned into a control freak, while his boss Richard Baum and the communications director Darren Dopp are keeping busy infighting Paul Francis, the budget director, and Lloyd Constantine, a senior secretary.) I don’t think so, that office becomes of interest only after 2008. So what have we left, if not a door-opener for a third-party candidature for the Presidency of the US in 2008, in a race that has no great and lovable major party candidates? Let’s look at history.
In 1992 Ross Perot, coming out of nowhere into the same situation, a protest candidate who called the US government complacent and lazy, a bunch of daydreamers, outsourcers of American jobs and fighters of an unnecessary gulf war of 1990-91, gained nearly 19 % of the popular vote, mostly from the Republicans, who played dirty pool and spoiled his daughter’s wedding. A self-made billionaire, founder of EDS, who invested only his own money, $65M, in the 1992 campaign, he started late, on Larry King’s CNN show in February 1992, and by September had gained enough enthusiasts and signature collectors to be on the ballot in all 50 states. His homespun wit and commonsense in the presidential candidates’ debates with Bush41 and Clinton stood up well enough for him to come in second in two states – in Maine, prevailing over Bush, and in Utah, over the scandal-beset Clinton.
Four years later, in 1996, Perot had founded the Reform Party and gained ballot space automatically, due to the substantial results in the previous race. He also attacked NAFTA, spent a lot less money, accepting contributions, and nevertheless gained 8% of the popular vote, presumed to be enough to bring Clinton back into the presidency, despite or maybe because of the heavy overload of purported new scandals.
Perot was not severely accused of being a spoiler, because of the tenor of his campaign, and the fact that he had two heavyweights, Hamilton Jordan and Ed Rollins, a Democrat and a Republican, as his campaign managers. The spoiler who will be remembered in history forever was Ralph Nader of the Green Party in 2000. Whether Mayor Bloomberg sees himself as a Ross Perot, a savior of the country with a positive program that will take the US out of the doldrums of the hopelessness of the present situation and the bleak future, remains to be seen. Given today’s situation, no one short of a Messiah will do the job.
The news that Michael Bloomberg has reopened his 2001 and 2005 campaign website www.mikebloomberg.com must give both the Democrats and Republicans the heebee-jeebees. No matter that he has assured the world that he is not running for president more often than Paris Hilton has been arrested (thank you Clyde Haberman of the Paper of Record), or that he has no intentions for the governorship, the stakeholders of Clinton and Giuliani still have nightmares of Ralph Nader and Ross Perot floating before their eyes.
Is Bloomberg serious? Examining the above website (don’t get caught up in www.bloomber.com, that is his company’s site for selling information products), you will find that the home page announces our man to be the best bargain in the world, at $1 per year. Further down, news articles speak of his plans of a hybrid taxi fleet (all 13,000) by 2010, a high school graduation rate at a historical high of 60%, and keynote addresses given at the C40 summit of the world’s largest cities’ mayors, and at the Greater Houston Partnership luncheon, all recent events.
Looking at issues, we also find announcements of NYC’s lowest ever unemployment rate of 4.3% in March 2007, and a paper he has written for a British medical journal, suggesting a drop of 100M in the deaths of smokers worldwide, if every country were to reduce cigarette use rate. More on poverty, affordable housing, job creation, education, environment and sustainability, arts and culture. Is this a Mayor trying to sell New Yorkers on $8 fee for bringing in cars below 86th Street, the current effort, or the 2nd Ave subway? No, this stuff is more national, international, if you please, it has all positives, no wars mentioned, nor Muslims or Arabs.
The selfsame great Haberman also has unearthed that our leader had, among friends and before the 2001 election, disclosed the four jobs that he would leave his megabillion company for – mayoralty of NYC, presidency of the US, secretary-generalship of the UN and presidency of the World Bank. Recently cornered by the tireless Clyde, about accepting the bank job, the only one available at present, he dismissed this possibility. So there, what alternatives are we left with? The governorship, given Spitzer’s bumbling in Albany? (The Post’s tell-all Fred Dicker discloses inactivity and arrogance in the direction of state operations - in the chief of staff’s office, the deputy, one-time AG candidate Sean Patrick Maloney who conducted an impressive on-the-cheap Internet campaign via irritating weekly spams has turned into a control freak, while his boss Richard Baum and the communications director Darren Dopp are keeping busy infighting Paul Francis, the budget director, and Lloyd Constantine, a senior secretary.) I don’t think so, that office becomes of interest only after 2008. So what have we left, if not a door-opener for a third-party candidature for the Presidency of the US in 2008, in a race that has no great and lovable major party candidates? Let’s look at history.
In 1992 Ross Perot, coming out of nowhere into the same situation, a protest candidate who called the US government complacent and lazy, a bunch of daydreamers, outsourcers of American jobs and fighters of an unnecessary gulf war of 1990-91, gained nearly 19 % of the popular vote, mostly from the Republicans, who played dirty pool and spoiled his daughter’s wedding. A self-made billionaire, founder of EDS, who invested only his own money, $65M, in the 1992 campaign, he started late, on Larry King’s CNN show in February 1992, and by September had gained enough enthusiasts and signature collectors to be on the ballot in all 50 states. His homespun wit and commonsense in the presidential candidates’ debates with Bush41 and Clinton stood up well enough for him to come in second in two states – in Maine, prevailing over Bush, and in Utah, over the scandal-beset Clinton.
Four years later, in 1996, Perot had founded the Reform Party and gained ballot space automatically, due to the substantial results in the previous race. He also attacked NAFTA, spent a lot less money, accepting contributions, and nevertheless gained 8% of the popular vote, presumed to be enough to bring Clinton back into the presidency, despite or maybe because of the heavy overload of purported new scandals.
Perot was not severely accused of being a spoiler, because of the tenor of his campaign, and the fact that he had two heavyweights, Hamilton Jordan and Ed Rollins, a Democrat and a Republican, as his campaign managers. The spoiler who will be remembered in history forever was Ralph Nader of the Green Party in 2000. Whether Mayor Bloomberg sees himself as a Ross Perot, a savior of the country with a positive program that will take the US out of the doldrums of the hopelessness of the present situation and the bleak future, remains to be seen. Given today’s situation, no one short of a Messiah will do the job.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 5:18 AM 
