Why Bloomberg running bums me
By most accounts, Michael Bloomberg’s been a pretty good mayor of New York City, no small accomplishment. And if one overlooks his extensive fundraising for rightwing candidates back when he was trying to polish his GOP credentials, his liberal résumé really isn’t half bad: Pro-choice, pro-gay rights and the like.
But I still hate the thought of his running for president as an independent.
First, although the polls don’t show it right now, in the end he’ll inevitably steal more votes from the Democratic candidate than from the Republican. He might just throw the election to one of the merry mites running for the GOP nomination.
But to be honest, even if I could be guaranteed such a disaster scenario wouldn’t come to pass, I’d still be uncomfortable with Bloomberg running: It just galls me to think of a billionaire being able to become an instant contender for the presidency of the United States simply because he’s willing to lay the money down.
It isn’t supposed to work that way. Maybe saying that is naïve, but it’s how I feel.
June 20th, 2007 at 12:37 am
Douglas Adams:
Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.
June 20th, 2007 at 12:40 am
Campaign reform, anyone?
June 20th, 2007 at 10:36 am
“It just galls me to think of a billionaire being able to become an instant contender for the presidency of the United States simply because he’s willing to lay the money down. It isn’t supposed to work that way. ”
Steve Forbes found out that it really doesn’t work that way. I don’t think our current system is how it is supposed to work, either. The founders could not possibly have intended corporate/business interests to own and implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) operate our national government. A billionaire running with his own money bothers me a lot less than what we have now.
June 20th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Sign me up, Larkrise! That’s what I was trying to get at. That’s also why I cannot get excited about the DLC-type candidates who are apparently the frontrunners, because of all the corporate cash they’re taking.
June 20th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
Personally I doubt if Americans will, in large numbers, get behind anybody this wealthy. I mean we have elected millionaires before, but never BILLIONaires. When someone has THAT much money they are practically a different species.
To me, his money is a double edged sword. On the other hand, we probably don’t have to worry about him being beholden to a lot of campaign contributors with an agenda, since he doesn’t need their money. On the other hand, HE has the kind of money that can sway and corrupt others.
June 20th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
I am reminded of Ross Perot, during his candidacy, speaking out about campaign finance reform. I thought how easy it was for him to talk about since he has so much of his own money that any such reform would not inconvenience him in the least.