December 26, 2007
Bloomberg's Riches Discussed in Context of 2008
Sometimes we refer to Mayor Bloomberg as Mayor Bling because with a net worth with $5.5 billion (according to Forbes), why not? And what's frequently mentioned is how his staff is looking into the possibility of Bloomberg running for president - though he denies it all the time - because he would have about $1 billion to spend on a third-party campaign. Former president Bill Clinton mentioned Bloomberg's wealth with respect to needing to reign in campaign finance rules while stumping for his wife in Iowa.
First, Clinton praised him, "Let’s take someone I really admire, the mayor of New York City Mike Bloomberg. I like him, he’s a really good mayor.” But Clinton's admiration stops there: “If he runs for president, he could spend $1 billion and hardly miss it. That’s real money for most of the rest of us. Under the law there are no constraints.”
However, Mayor Bloomberg said, "Statistics show that wealthy people who self-finance don't win with any greater frequency than those who have to go out and raise money from others." The Sun suggests the Mayor's words "he is prepared to parry attacks by spinning his money as a positive factor." In fact, Bloomberg made a point of saying how he's not beholden to big donors and that NYC voters knew he was spending his money in both mayoral elections, which he won.
The Sun also has an editorial that calls the former president out on his remarks, noting examples like John F. Kennedy's campaign being financed by his father and Jon Corzine spending $62.7 million on his Senate campaign. The Sun believes Clinton may be worried that Bloomberg could take away the "electoral votes of New York, California and Florida" from wife Hillary if the mayor should run.
|
that's "real" money? a billion dollars is unimaginable money to most of us.
Bill Clinton pretty much put his foot in his mouth with that comment
The idea of a President who self-financed his campaign terrifies Washington insiders because he wouldn't owe anyone anything as a result of monetary support. So it's no surprise that an insider like Clinton objects to the idea.
I keep having to ask myself, who is running for President, Bill or Hillary? I am 25 years old and a Bush or Clinton has ruled from the Whitehouse my entire life. Lets throw the bums out and bring a Washington-outsider in.
Take a stand
Draft Mike Bloomberg!
http://www.uniteformike.com
I think Bloomberg has proven beyond any doubt that it doesn't matter where the money for your campaign comes from the person who is elected matters.
Bloomberg is the best thing going in politics in the country as far as I can tell. Who else gets things done like he can? Sure he's had his share of spectacular failures, but he's also had more than his share of spectacular successes. Anyone who has used 311 knows that alone makes Bloomie worth his weight in gold. Imagine what America would be like if someone with his managerial skills took over. It's really too bad the rest of America would be too short sighted to elect someone like him.
Bloomberg doesn't have to answer to any financier, he works for himself, and for the city. He owes himself for the campaign money, and owes the people for the votes. With regular politicians, you get corporate contributions, lobbyist money, etc etc. So what ends up happening is the dude can become a puppet. Some people are better at hiding these strings than others. Bush is really bad at hiding his puppet strings plus his puppeteers aren't very good.
I love bloomberg, he's really an innovative dude. Added 311, brought up the congestion charge. If he can't figure out the answer himself, he refers to experts, or other cities for help. He's really good at delegating power and looking at other large cities for possible answers to nyc problems.
Like his speech when there was the steam explosion... he was like, 'ok.. i havent been briefed enough on this, let me give the mic to the expert instead of me trying to bullshit my way out of it.' I think loads of other politicians would have just fumbled through and not passed the mic over.
And then there is the whole congestion charge idea. Forget about what you think of this idea. Everyone hates taxes, politicians hate to talk about these things. But Bloomberg just brought it right up. And he didn't pretend he invented it, he was trying to apply traffic reducing ideas from other cities.
I also really like how he's so frank about things and realistic. He knows you can't please everyone, he just says it like it is. Like 'look, this is the best compromise, some people arent gonna like it, its not gonna be perfect, this is just the way I think its best to do it.' And then when he is powerless to fix something, he doesn't go on acting like he can do something he can't.
The number 1 thing I like about Bloomberg is he isn't into politics for money. He already had that. He isn't into it for some kind of power trip either. I think he actually wants to help out the city, and he's been pretty honest about that. NYC mayor is a really hard job and I think he's been really good. I think him or some other type of Bloomberg character would be a really good president as well.