Obama-Bloomberg?
With Drudge predicting Hillary’s exit and Barack Obama increasingly building excitement towards locking up the nomination on Feb. 5, I’m thinking about the role Mike Bloomberg could play as Obama’s running mate. The Republican battle could last all the way until a brokered convention in August. Romney has too much money to retire easily, McCain could take New Hampshire, Huckabee wins South Carolina, Rudy wins Florida and the Feb 5 races could be split with no clear winner. That leaves Barack with time to consolidate the Democratic Party, raise money for the general and choose a running mate while the Republicans remain in a squabble, spending their limited resources on the primary. Conventional wisdom has it that Bloomberg might take the Republican chaos as a sign to get in but,
Obama told Diane Sawyer on Sunday that he thinks Bloomberg will stay out of the race if he wins the Democratic nomination. “I suspect that if I’m the nominee, I’m not sure that’s the best of scenarios for him to want to get into the race,” he said, though he added that he and Bloomberg haven’t discussed that prospect in detail. “What I do agree with is that people just want to get stuff done. They’re really tired of the pettiness and the back biting and the trivialization of our democracy.”
If Obama and Bloomberg both really believe we have entered a Post Partisan Age, why not team up? With Bloomberg as Vice President, the Republican business coalition and the Green Cities movement would move firmly into the Obama camp, especially given the possibility of a Huckabee nomination.
I’m a supporter of Obama but, because of the super delegate situation in the Democratic party, Clinton is still the front runner. I don’t think the race is even close at this point.
Hillary might be going down, but it’s going to get big ugly on the way. I have a strong suspicon that Obama supporters are going to get a rapid and brutal education on why the Republicans loathed the Clintons so much. It would be interesting to take bets on what the dumpster divers are going to come up with.
The flip side of this is that I suspect that now Hillary is looking vulnerable, a lot of Democrats who had been intimidated by them are slipping in some kidney punches.
I could also think of about five scenarios in which John Edwards pulls it out.
Or Al Gore is drafted. I didn’t think I’d live to see the day when he was the darling of the Democratic party and the Clintons were gornished.
Bloomberg lost me when he wanted to have Keith Richard arrested for smoking on stage at Madison Square Gardens. Guiliani might have tamed New York, but Bloomberg castrated it.
Republicans coming tomorrow if you want it.
Flint
clinton is the front runner? wake up.
bloomberg would be an interesting running mate.
Just wait until Obama gets more and more national airtime. The man is a phenomenon and one that’s way over due. We are about to witness a historical shift in this country and as a young single mother with so much at stake (for myself and my son) I couldn’t be more thrilled.
I’d support an Obama-Bloombert ticket….sounds brilliantly anti-partisan!
Hillary took NH tonight and I think the tears paid off with the women who put her over the top. But how many times can she cry on the campaign trail? Obama’s got the message and I love the idea of a Bloomberg running mate. Can you imagine a black president and a Jew in waiting? I don’t know if America can handle that but these two is what we need.
The tears (well the almost tears) pulled it off. Scripted? Interesting.
Don’t count Hillary out yet.
I would vote for an Obama/Bloomberg.
people who support Bloomberg have never lived in NYC. he LOVES to fine people, it’s his way of taxing. he’s a power-monger, very creepy, very much a bully. plus he has done nothing to fix Rudy the Weasel’s assault on nightlife there (do you know it’s still illegal to dance in all but a tiny handful of clubs there? really.), and has even made it worse. plus he’s deeply in the closet, that little queen (if he came out, i’d respect him on that one count). You CANNOT trust this man one bit.
This ticket would appeal to everyone and it would move our country in the right direction for once! Bloomberg has been a great mayor (though I dislike his education policies.)
I’d love to see this happen then see Bloomberg run in 2016
Many of us in New York feel that Mike Bloomberg has the attributes that are needed to deal with the difficult issues we will face over the next few decades. He is a consensus builder, a futurist, an excellent manager, and his independent wealth allows him to function free of special interests. Given the likelihood of a McCain primary victory, there is no room for Mr. Bloomberg as an independent in the 2008 election. After his role of mayor ends, his best option to play a major role in a national role is as a VP with either McCain, or even better with Obama in a real bipartisan coalition! He adds balance to Obama via ‘gravitas’, and managerial expertise. After eight years of a successful administration, at age 74, he would be perfectly situated for the 2016 election. Sixteen years of intelligent,well-meaning bipartisan government would be a very interesting prospect. A little ‘out-of -the box’, but not ouside the realm of possibility. How do we make it happen?
See my piece on the Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-yaffe/obamabloomberg-a-cant-_b_84340.html
search under ‘yaffe’.
[...] in the above link list refer to it) to Jon Taplin’s proposal of a couple of months ago, an Obama-Bloomberg ticket. Makes more sense than ever, especially considering the stunning progress Obama has achieved [...]