Okay, so I'm really into Michael Bloomberg right now.
I realize that he brought the RNC to New York and that he supported the Olympics bid and that he hasn't done a single thing to slow down the turning of my beloved neighborhood, Prospect Heights into a sea of luxury co-ops behind the proposed Nets Arena
BUT
I'm of the opinion that there isn't a politician out there that has a record of decisions that I can be behind 100%- it's just the nature of politics. That being said, Michael Bloomberg seems to have come into office a Republican only in name, with many leftist views. Being a political outsider that financed his own campaign, he has taken on issues that many "professional" politicians had deemed political suicide. He did away with smoky bars and restaurants- I don't know a single person that longs for a time before that ban took place. Earler this year, he proposed a congestion tax on cars entering overcrowded Manhattan below 86th Street, an idea that I have been ranting about for ten years and one whose time has definitely come. That proposal was part of a much larger initiative to improve New York's green standing and overhaul its basic services to accomodate the millions of people that the city will have attracted over the coming two decades. You can read about that plan
here. Yestedray, Bloomberg spoke at the Climate Protection Summit convened by the US Conference of Mayors in Seattle, where he called for a national carbon tax, arguing that directly taxing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change will slow global warming, promote economic growth and stimulate technological innovation. This idea is widely supported by scholars, environmentalists and even by some businesses that would be directly affected by this tax, but both political parties in Washington have dodged the issue.
I guess what I'm feeling for Bloomberg is that he has a long-term vision for the greater good of our society, a vision that I can get behind. But he is a businessman, and can apply his idealism to the real world, can make progressive ideas work in a pragmatic environment. Furthermore, he's a self-made man and is not beholden to any special interests and, more importantly, to any political parties. (Bloomberg left the Republican party in June and is now an Independent.) It seems to me that distinct from all of the partisan garbage in today's political climate, Bloomberg is a politician who is wed solely to good ideas and their practical implementation. I would love to see what he would do in a presidential bid.