As if it Weren't Already Obvious.....

MSNBC today shares the startling story, "Bloomberg rules out 2012 presidential bid". Now, I recognize that Bloomberg has been coy while the nation's media has flattered his ego with the notion that he could run a viable campaign, but the fact that he's not planning to run should go without saying given his investment to date of $0 in building a national name or machine that would get him on state ballots and give him any chance of being elected. Yes, Giuliani's narcissism left him believing that he could ride his service as mayor and the happenstance of his serving in that role on 9/11 into the White House, and I'm not sure that Bloomberg thinks any less of himself. But Bloomberg seems smart enough with his money and ego that he's not going to run a disastrous and doomed presidential campaign that is more likely to result in his being compared to Nader or Perot than even to Giuliani.

Meanwhile, having finally admitted the obvious, Bloomberg reveals a level of tact that simply serves to highlight why he would not be the dream candidate that... a handful of people in the mainstream media imagine. If Bloomberg weren't a billionaire, and if he were instead supporting himself on a mayor's salary, lecturing ordinary folks to "suck it up" in relation to a tax cut that could save him tens of millions of dollars would perhaps not be entirely out of place. But he is a billionaire. (I expect that Bloomberg's income is primarily in the form of capital gains, and that between the lower capital gains tax rate and his bevy of tax lawyers and accountants he already pays a much smaller percentage of his income in taxes than the typical critic of the tax deal.)