In New York, Bloomberg Gives Up His Throne

“King” of the town for 12 years, the departing mayor could rebound in politics at the national level.

Michael Bloomberg almost swears, hand on heart, that this Jan. 1, after his successor’s inauguration ceremony at New York’s city hall, nothing will stop him from taking a vacation “for the first time in 12 years.” Golf is in the cards, first in Hawaii, then in New Zealand. The innumerable political requests are of little importance to the hyperactive millionaire, who was elected mayor of New York in February 2002 and re-elected twice.

A national treasure, as much admired as he is hated for his frank stance on firearms and education reform, 71-year-old “King Mike” appears to be sincere in his intention to distance himself from the public eye — at least for the moment. He has demonstrated that a man so immensely rich (according to Forbes he has $31 billion in the bank) can head up a megalopolis like New York in the way he wants, or almost, without risking the least bit of compromise. “He’s been the imperial mayor,” says one of his accusers, J. Justin Wilson, of the Center for Consumer Freedom, an industrial think tank. “He thinks he is able to buy everything with his money, but that’s not how you rally people around your cause.” Rightly so, Bloomberg has promoted a great number of these causes. His victories include legislation around the carrying of firearms, surely the most severe in the U.S.; education reform, an immense and incomplete disaster zone which widened the town’s doors to the innovative “charter schools”; and the smoking ban in public places.

An Eye on the White House?

He has also had some epic failures, such as his abandoned attempt to ban sodas, those liter bottles that the Americans are crazy about. “Right before you die, remind yourself that you had three extra years,” Bloomberg was accustomed to saying, on the subject of his initiatives against giant sodas and cigarettes. The soda initiative was rejected by the courts, caused an outcry in the food-processing industry and annoyed the man on the street.

Bloomberg has failed to secure his preferred replacement at the head of the “Big Apple.” His favorite, Democratic city council member Christine Quinn, dropped the ball completely, overtaken by an illustrious unknown, Bill de Blasio, whose victory on Tuesday is in sight.*

Soon free from all elective mandates, can Bloomberg stay away from power markets, now that he’s contracted the politics “bug” (as Mort Zuckerman, the New York Daily Times tabloid boss, would say) for long? Behind the scenes, “Mike the Machine” is running at full speed, thanks to his super PAC (Political Action Committee) — Independence USA, which finances (to the tune of millions of dollars) education reform and the axed regional political campaigns on gun control.

So does he have his eye on the White House? The question remains taboo for the one who, repelling Democrat sirens like the Republicans, could put himself forward at the head of a centrist movement constructed around himself. It’s an immense luxury. Evidently money is no issue. The only thing missing again is desire. “I think he’d be a great president,” says Harold Wolfson, close adviser and Democratic policy of obedience strategy. “Come back and ask us in two and a half years.”

*Editor’s Note: Bill de Blasio won the mayoral election on Nov. 5 by a wide margin.