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Opinion: N.Y. mayor says, again, he’s not running for president

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Once again, New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg says he is not running for president. Still. He says on his own website that he was asked about it again in Washington recently. He doesn’t say who asked him again, but it must have been someone who hasn’t read or heard the mayor’s last 20 coy denials.

So now as long as he says someone brought it up again, Bloomberg proceeds to discuss the issue again. He says, ‘Are you running?’ is the wrong question, even though you have to run before you get elected. And he says the question is not who is the best candidate either, even though that’s supposed to be what this confounded party primary-caucus business is all about. He says the real question is who will be the best president? That makes sense.

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Then the former Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent proceeds to write a short essay that sounds suspiciously like a mini-stump speech of the sort we’re all hearing a lot of these days if we’re listening yet. ‘The country,’ he says, ‘faces very real and very big challenges: creating growth in a global economy, fighting terrorism, meeting our energy needs, tackling global warming, and reforming public education.’

Bloomberg, the non-candidate, says, ‘We need solutions that are innovative and bold, not superficial half-steps that are driven by politics, partisanship, or special interest campaign contributions.’ Hard to argue with that, right? He says we need ‘real solutions.’

‘For too long,’ the billionaire adds, ‘the American people have been served up empty promises based on what politicians think we want to hear. It’s time for something real.’ Wait a minute. Isn’t he the real mayor? Wasn’t he selected in a real election? Doesn’t that make him a real politician? One of Them.

So how does he get to claim to be one of us non-politicians who are being fed blather? Is this something he thinks we want to hear?

‘Real solutions’ is what ‘this upcoming campaign needs to be about,’ Bloomberg writes. ‘And these,’ he promises, ‘are the issues and challenges I will continue to address.’

Whether he’s asked or not, apparently.

--Andrew Malcolm

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