I Like Mike: Bloomberg In 2020
By
Leonard Zwelling
As readers of this blog will know, YFB (your favorite blogger) has not been happy with the way that the 2020 race for president has been shaping up. It turns out that despite what recent polls suggest, there are others who aren’t entirely happy with the choices as they sit now. Many are not attracted to the leftist policies of Warren and Sanders and also think Biden too old and Mayor Pete too young.
There are certainly a great number of Democrats and some Republicans and a lot of independents who find President Trump an awful alternative.
That being said, look what the Dems have for us. Two extreme lefties in Sanders and Warren both of whom want to nationalize and socialize America and a real retread in Vice President Biden who isn’t quite clued into the fact that his train left the station 20 years ago.
The second and third tier of candidates aren’t all that bad, but they lack either experience or charisma or both. And most importantly, they haven’t caught on.
A few months ago a friend emailed. My friend had come upon a name for the Democratic race that had not been heard from and thought would be a good choice. My friend asked me to guess who it was. My friend’s choice was Bill Gates. I thought that was a lousy choice as Gates would make a poor politician and besides he is doing more good with his money now than any comparable government agency ever did. Why would he bother?
No, my guess of my friend’s choice was Mike Bloomberg. I have always liked the former New York mayor and thought he would never be for sale and is just what is needed to beat Trump.
Last week, after reading one of my blogs, another friend-reader wondered why, given my political proclivities, I did not get behind Amy Klobuchar. My second friend was right. Klobuchar’s policies fit mine, but she can’t win for a host of reasons. First, she appears to be one of the mean girls to her staff. She comes off that way on television, too. Second, she’s a girl and I am still concerned that the country is not ready for a woman as president something I hear a great deal about from—women! Heck, I already voted for one several times (2008, 2016), but she lost twice.
So again, I was pressed about who I was backing.
“Mike Bloomberg,” I emailed back.
“But he’s not running,” my friend emailed back to me.
I answered that email with one word, “yet.”
Now it appears that former New York City Mayor Bloomberg is seriously considering a run and doing so because of people like me, who find the lefties unappealing and the current middle-of-the-road crew unelectable.
Mr. Bloomberg has been both a Republican and a Democrat along with a few years as an independent. He knows how to run things. If you can run New York, you can run America. He cannot be bought which is more than I can say for Mr. Trump who is undoubtedly in the pockets of the Russian oligarchs from whom he borrowed money when no one else would take him on as a risk. Bloomberg is socially liberal, fiscally conservative and downright sober when it comes to everything in the public sphere.
Like everyone who was stunned by his announcement of a possible run yesterday, November 7, I have to hear a lot more, but I surely can get behind him more than I can the current Gang of Four leading the Democratic polls: Biden, Warren, Sanders and Mayor Pete.
Bloomberg has his detractors, including Donald Trump who Bloomberg is on record as calling a “con.” Bloomberg’s “stop and frisk” policy was questioned and dismissed in New York. He is not young. Only Bernie is older among the pretenders to the throne.
Nonetheless, Mike Bloomberg is a candidate who I think I can back. Let’s see if he really runs and what he has to say. He’s starting late, but my guess is that there are more twists and turns likely on the road to November 2020. I just hope Bloomberg can find a way onto the debate stage on November 20. If he can, we will know pretty quickly whether this is another pipe dream or the real deal. Let’s hope it’s the latter. I think Bloomberg can beat Trump. My billionaire against yours. Why the heck not?
