We don’t need you to wow us. Just give us a little more than being the antidote to crazy.
Missing debates, skipping early primaries… It’s stuff like that that’s got at least a small bunch of people speculating that former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg just wants to make sure Trump loses; doesn’t really expect to win/doesn’t really care if he wins.
Sure. Just like Trump didn’t really want to be President.
Stop it. He wants to win.
We’re sure, yes, Bloomberg will pour an unbelievable amount of dollars into defeating Trump (and helping Democrats hang on to the House and win back the Senate), whomever the candidate may be. But right now, that’s almost beside the point. Because for now at least, his ads which we keep seeing during major sporting events and when we look at stuff on YouTube and well, everywhere!…are very much focused on himself and his personal accomplishments. Not so much on broad policy goals, or direct attacks on President Trump. So sure he wants to beat Trump. Himself. We don’t buy for a sec that he’s not in it to win it.
Which frankly is causing us some confusion. We vote on Super Tuesday, March 3rd, and we’d kind of already settled on a candidate. But if Bloomberg can convince us between now and then he can win? Maybe he gets our vote.
Is the baggage he carries with him heavier than other candidates? His support of stop-and-frisk still bothers us. (Hey, New York Times, it doesn’t only bother black voters!) Even though he now says he was wrong and has apologized, which is something we didn’t expect him to do. The fact that he’s a mega-billionaire? As we’ve said: American voters don’t really seem to hate wealth in their Presidential candidates. And we like the idea that he’s probably the only Democratic candidate capable of outspending Trump. (He also may be counting on other Democratic hopefuls spending themselves into oblivion by “Super Tuesday”, March 3rd. A risk he doesn’t run because he has so much personal wealth.)
Does he splinter Biden’s so far solid support? We won’t tell you who we’re voting for, but if we go for Bloomberg he won’t be stealing a Biden vote. (But then again, Biden could still convince us to vote for him too, between now and March).
The inspiration factor is something we’re not yet sure about. Not so much for us, but for the many, many Americans who are always looking toward the Presidential candidate who promises the greatest transformation, giving them the greatest hope.
A friend of ours the other day suggested Bloomberg ought really to be running as a Republican (the first two times he won as Mayor of New York he ran as a Republican), and “primary” Trump. Which actually makes a lot of sense if his goal wasn’t really, truly to win. (And who knows? Maybe that would’ve been the winning-est strategy, although we’d imagine Republican committees would’ve impeded his ability to get on primary ballots in many states).
So we agree: Bloomberg’s in it for the long haul. Even if he isn’t the candidate. He’s building a huge organization, which will be a money-spouting political machine. And beating Trump alone is a noble cause. But you’re never going to convince us that winning the Presidency himself is not Michael Bloomberg’s primary objective.