November 12, 2019
On Friday, the news broke that former NYC mayor, Mike Bloomberg, was again toying with a presidential run. Apparently, Bloomberg is concerned that the current moderate frontrunner, former Vice President Joe Biden, is losing steam and that if one of the other leading Democratic candidates, Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, wins the primary, they will be unable to defeat Donald Trump (Source: “Analysis: Bloomberg’s Move a Slam on Biden, 2020 Democrats,” by Steve Peoples, AssociatedPress.com, 11/8/19). On one level, Bloomberg’s fear is understandable. He is hardly alone in being panicked at the thought of four more years of Trump. That is the existential dread underlying the entire Democratic primary.
Bloomberg’s mistake is in thinking that he is the answer. Given the inability of another white male billionaire (with a more progressive track record) in the race to catch fire and the recent departure of another New York City mayor, only hubris can account for Bloomberg’s belief that he can attract a winning constituency in the Democratic Party, or in the American electorate at large.
In his post mayoralty career, Bloomberg has been an admirable champion of gun control and and a staunch advocate for combating climate change. Many New Yorkers in the creative class loved Bloomberg. He was LGBT friendly and urbane. Bloomberg championed policies to improve public health, combat smoking and obesity. He transformed blighted stretches of waterfront into beautiful public spaces and worked to create a more sustainable city. All of these improvements made the city more livable for some, who never questioned the cost,(Source: “As Bloomberg’s New York Prospered, Inequality Flourished Too,” by Emily Badger and Luis Ferre-Sadurni, The New York Times, 11/10/19).
The truth is Bloomberg’s record can not withstand scrutiny through an even mildly progressive lens. Under Bloomberg, homelessness soared by 69% (Source: “Bloomberg on NYC Homelessness: A Total Lack of Accountability,” by Patrick Markee, Coalitionforthehomeless.org, 12/18/13). Bloomberg doubled down on a lawless “stop and frisk” policy whose primary effect was to terrorize Black and Latinx New Yorkers. Under this policy while 55% of those stopped were Black and 32% were Latinx, 90% of those stopped were found innocent of any wrongdoing, (Source: “You Must Never Vote For Bloomberg,” by Charles Blow, The New York Times, 11/10/19).
Bloomberg’s candidacy represents an unwillingness to grapple with the realities of 2019 America; a nostalgia for an era when a stroll on the High Line was enough to make some people overlook skyrocketing inequality and soul-deadening, persistent structural racism. Bloomberg seems oblivious to the fact that many privileged people are now far less willing to overlook the price of their privilege. Cosseted by his wealth, he is also insulated from the virulence of age old hatreds based on race and religion, and the increasing willingness of an alarmingly large swath of Americans to act on that hatred. Bloomberg’s only natural constituency is left of center billionaires who want to keep their tax cuts. For those who think differently, I have two words: Okay, Boomer.