Why Choose? Have Both

Unfortunately for Mayor Bloomberg, my family's mantra for the former (but reviving?) star of the Borscht Belt does not apply to 21st-century politics. Term limits, approved soundly by NYC voters in two referendums, do not get to be loosened one time only because you think you're going to be bored when you leave office in a year.

Arguments that we need an experienced, venerated mayor in times of financial crisis -- no matter how much of a financial genius Mr. Bloomberg is -- despite what city law says are those used by autocrats, not the best mayor in the world (and the city council). That Ronald S. Lauder, the billionaire cosmetics heir and patron of term limits, supports this is odd, especially because it lends an air of politics as oligarchy. That the Times endorses it is odder because, if I remember correctly, it didn't support Rudy Giuliani's arguments for an extension of his second term when his mayoralty was expiring just as Sept. 11 struck, though maybe that was just my mom, who rightfully hates Guiliani. (Giuliani, who's had a contentious relationship with Bloomberg, seems to support his successor's idea here. For the sake of clarification, I agree that term limits are "arbitrary," but if enough voters were motivated enough to enact them, then it's the voters who should remove them, not the council.)

Mayor Bloomberg, you can run for governor of New York and not even have down time between your last day in office in the city and your first day on the campaign trail. You'd surely win and run the most important state in the world. You also certainly had your chance to be a VP candidate (and, if Obama chose you, the coolest VP ever, and perhaps eventually, the coolest president ever). Now, you're on the verge of subverting democracy. Here's part of the presser yesterday:



Speaking of vice presidents, if anyone needed any more reason not to support Sarah "Narrow Maritime Border" Palin, as Alaska's governor she sued the federal government so not to have to list the polar bear as an endangered species. All those polar bears deserve gigantic hugs.

Update: Clyde Haberman's column in today's Times is a good, succinct, acerbic explanation for why Bloomberg's push for a third term blemishes his record.