Bloomberg Will Not Run For President

Ending months of speculation, Mayor Michael Bloomberg confirmed he will not run for president in the 2008 election. And he did it with an op-ed in the NY Times, titled, "I'm Not Running for President, but..."

The op-ed starts out with Bloomberg calling all the current candidates "smart" but believes "the candidates seem afraid to level with" the American public, because the candidates aren't offering "innovative ideas, bold action and courageous leadership" on issues like the economy, gun control, education and immigration. (Subtext: Bloomberg can, but that's neither here nor there now.) Anyway, onto the money quote:

I listened carefully to those who encouraged me to run, but I am not — and will not be — a candidate for president. I have watched this campaign unfold, and I am hopeful that the current campaigns can rise to the challenge by offering truly independent leadership. The most productive role that I can serve is to push them forward, by using the means at my disposal to promote a real and honest debate.

In the weeks and months ahead, I will continue to work to steer the national conversation away from partisanship and toward unity; away from ideology and toward common sense; away from sound bites and toward substance. And while I have always said I am not running for president, the race is too important to sit on the sidelines, and so I have changed my mind in one area. If a candidate takes an independent, nonpartisan approach — and embraces practical solutions that challenge party orthodoxy — I’ll join others in helping that candidate win the White House.

Hear that, Clinton, McCain and Obama? If you can offer an independent, nonpartisan approach, Bloomberg's endorsement - and potentially his checkbook - is yours. Guess Newsweek's Jon Meachum is pretty upset Bloomberg isn't running, not to mention the consultants, political organizations, media outlets and current Bloomberg staffers that would be benefited from the $1 billion Bloomberg would have spent on a presidential campaign.

Bloomberg, who was charmed by presidential ambitions and kept us guessing, but then grumpy when moderate candidates (like Obama and McCain) surged, will work for The Bloomberg Family Foundation after serving his second term as mayor and be a philanthropist. And a media mogul.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on February 28, 2008 2:20 AM

Comments [rss]

JRod5417

That is the best use of photoshop I've seen in a while

JMH

Farrakhan is a racist; Jerrychui is a plagiarist.

Great Photoshop, Jen.

Adam Edwards

Good, maybe Ron Paul will run as a Libertarian now.

zodak

lol jenn321, i wondered if bloomberg thought of that.

can you imagine a kucinich/nader ticket with bloomberg financing?!

Papercutninja

Also, jerrychui is apparently REALLY REALLY afraid of black people.

Papercutninja

Mr. Mayor, thanks for not pulling a Nader.

blablanyc

Good. Mayor Land Grab isn't running for president. What he did in Chinatown the past two days was straight out of Giuliani's playbook. Free up real estate for corporate friends. What a douche.

Toby von Meistersinger

Bloomberg would have been less worse than the other freaks in the freak show. Although, it would seem anyone who doesn't want to run for president would probably do a better job than the gaggle of political hacks who are actually running.

jenn321

Interesting timing of this op-ed - didn't an independent [name begins with "N" ends with "ader"] just enter the race.

If a candidate takes an independent, nonpartisan approach — and embraces practical solutions that challenge party orthodoxy — I’ll join others in helping that candidate win the White House.

jerrychui

In his first major public address since a cancer crisis, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan said Sunday that presidential candidate Barack Obama is the "hope of the entire world" that the U.S. will change for the better.

The 74-year-old Farrakhan, addressing an estimated crowd of 20,000 people at the annual Saviours' Day celebration, never outrightly endorsed Obama but spent most of the nearly two-hour speech praising the Illinois senator.

"This young man is the hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better," he said. "This young man is capturing audiences of black and brown and red and yellow. If you look at Barack Obama's audiences and look at the effect of his words, those people are being transformed."

HOPE OF THE ENTIRE WORLD-- ha ha ha

Farrakhan compared Obama to the religion's founder, Fard Muhammad, who also had a white mother and black father.

FOUNDER OF BLACK MUSLIMS HAD A WHITE MOTHER AND BLACK FATHER LIKE OBAMA-

"A black man with a white mother became a savior to us," he told the crowd of mostly followers. "A black man with a white mother could turn out to be one who can lift America from her fall."

Farrakhan also leveled small jabs at Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama's rival for the Democratic nomination, suggesting that she represents the politics of the past and has been engaging in dirty politics.

Farrakhan's keynote address at McCormick Place, the city's convention center, wrapped up three days of events geared at unifying followers and targeting youth.

It had a different tone from a year ago, when Farrakhan made what was called his final public address at a Saviours' Day event in Detroit. The 74-year-old was recovering from complications from prostate cancer and months earlier had temporarily passed on leadership duties of the organization's day-to-day activities to an executive board.

© 2008 Associated Press.

Dave Hogarty

I'm not gonna believe he's quit until he's stood b/f the press with a bright red sign saying "I'm not running for President", without a sly smirk on his face.

Wait. What? OK, I'll believe he's out when he has $1mn in spare campaign fund to put towards my rent or bar tab.

joseph_dunphy_in_chicago

In February of the election year, he's saying this? At this point, with primaries already behind us, doesn't ones preceding absence in the race speak loudly enough?