Wednesday, February 25, 2009

How Bloomberg lost his mojo

From the NY Post:

A little more than a year ago, Mayor Bloomberg starred on the covers of Time and Newsweek, poised to lead an independent movement to the White House. Now, he's fighting off comparisons to Venezuelan strongman Hugo "El Loco" Chavez and finds himself groveling to a fellow some call a cult leader.

What the heck happened?

Bloomberg's independent crusade, now seen as a marketing tool rather than a historical force, has vanished from the national scene. On the big debates over guns, immigration and education, the mayor has lost his voice. The "practical solutions" he said Americans were rallying around turned out to be his solutions - not those of any wider movement.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Several things have happened here:

1)Mr Bloomberg laid bare his huge ego and ambition in seeking a third term by subverting the twice-expressed verdict of the public.

2) Party or not, he's still seen as a Republican. The Giuliani aura has dissipated, Republican Mayors are gonna be fewer.

On to the man and his empire, it seems his radio station (WBBR 1130)has, or will soon have yet another round of layoffs leaving it with only 5-6 employees to run a 50KW AM station in market #1. The station now fills most of it's airtime with audio from Bloomberg's tv feed.

All of this having been said, you'd be crazy to write him off. He has huge advantages over a very weak field of rivals: incumbency-exposure-money.

Anonymous said...

Lino,
He was a "Lifelong Democrat" who purchased the Republican Party to stay out of a primary fight.

But, when push comes to shove, he's not a Democrat or even an Independent either, as party member ship requires some pretense at least of believing in some party (partisan) principles.

You are absolutely correct that his ego and ambition are the factors that drive him.

But, he has no thoughts in his head. How smart does anyone have to be to sell use of lots of single-purpose computer terminals attached to his computer system.

Believe me. He had nothing to do with producing the software operating on that system

So, he's an egomaniac salesman. Used cars or used terminals. he's going to find the fools with the money to buy.

The end result is that his power resides in his wallet. He has no friends, no thoughts, no social skills, no political skills, no speaking skills.

He actually believe that when he sees his paid lickspittle lackeys jump, it's because they love and admire him.

He is surrounded by people whose only reason to stay is to laugh at the moron who cannot see what's going on.

There is absolutely no benefit in voting for this imbecile. We New Yorkers are supposed to be much smarter than that. He's just the Bernie Madoff of NYC politics. He has burned all those who gave him this job. We should never do it again.

Anonymous said...

He's just the Bernie Madoff of NYC politics.

oooh! Nice touch! Lets revisit this theme again and again!