Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Blog post of the year

From Pajamas Media:

In his seven years as mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg has been the recipient of an almost uninterrupted spate of good publicity.

It’s about all his legacy will amount to, and it is not an accident. His entire political career has been designed, down to the carefully released rumors about his presidential ambition, as an experiment in governance through public relations. Barack Obama loves him, John McCain loves him, Time magazine loves him, 70% of New Yorkers loves him, and yet if I stopped writing right here to ask what, exactly, Bloomberg has ever accomplished, not many people could come up with an intelligible answer.

They might mutter something vague about “education reform” without being able to explain its manic-depressive vicissitudes, or cite any concrete evidence of its success. Crime? That’s been down since the days of Giuliani, and anyone might have been able to maintain an already successful law enforcement program.

Behind the po-faced façade of a competent but bland CEO of America’s toughest metropolis lurks a breathtakingly calculated mediocrity, a man who silences his critics with cash and is then the first to tell you just how popular he is.

Bloomberg’s reputation among the fast-vanishing middle class of New York — as an economic demographic, it accounts for a mere 20% of the city’s total population — is that of an oblivious fat cat who has turned the island of Manhattan into an overpriced playground for all his rich friends.


More from the NY Times' Clyde Haberman:

Mr. Bloomberg has minions of his own. They have floated more trial balloons than the Macy’s parade in various attempts to stave off lame-duckdom. This third-term business may be just another way to keep his name front and center as his days at City Hall wind down.

But it just could be that Mr. Bloomberg, like Mr. Giuliani, has never fully absorbed Charles de Gaulle’s admonition about indispensable men. The graveyards, de Gaulle said, are full of them.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

In Mayor Mike's carefully skewed public opinion polls, he always seems to come out the "good" guy/savior of New York City.

An old adage:

"Statistics never lie but liars
use statistics"!

So is the case with Mr. Mayor's skillfully manipulated manure
he's been spreading around town.

Popular...my ass...only in his own mind (and his wealthy friends'
who share the plunder of our great metropolis)!

This anal retentive diminutive Boston bean counter had better learn his limitations, in this particular instance, term limits!

We don't want you. You're kaput.

You never were mayoral material!

Anonymous said...

Pajamas media? That's the best you can do in your fishing for criticism of Mayor Bloomberg? Pajamas media? Thanks for a good laugh Crapper.

Anonymous said...

Clyde Haberman is one of the best editorialists this city has ever had.

Anonymous said...

That article hit the nail on the head.

Anonymous said...

All Bloomberg did was an old business trick of paying off the opposiition. Have you ever heard Sharpton going after the rich mayor. Wonder how much he is getting and how much the others are getting to shut up?

Anonymous said...

One of the things the preservation community refused to even ackowledges as a serious problem.

The NY media.

Oh... sorry ... they do always nice coverage of GV, ES, WS, BH so I guess there is no problem. Right?

Assholes.

Anonymous said...

Pajamas media? That's the best you can do in your fishing for criticism of Mayor Bloomberg? Pajamas media? Thanks for a good laugh Crapper.

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You're missing the entire point. The mainstream media wouldn't dare criticize Baloomberg.

Anonymous said...

Hey Sharpton, I got two words for ya:

TAWANA BRAWLEY!

Hey Sharpton, I got two MORE words for ya:

STEVEN PAGONIS!

Hey Bloomberg, I got two words for ya:

TERM LIMITS!

Hey Bloomberg, I got two more words for ya:

THE LAW!

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