Bloomberg Criticizes Presidential Choices
1/2/2008 4:03:41 PM New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who insists he has no plans to run for president, on Wednesday criticized the field of White House candidates. “There's no one candidate. Don't say, OK, Bloomberg's criticizing A, B or C on either side. It's all of them, and I think that's the frustration you see among a lot of independently minded people you see along both sides of the aisle,” Bloomberg told a news conference. “I have not heard anybody who's said what they'd really do when it comes to foreign policy, how they would rebuild the relationships America has around the world,” he added. Some political observers say that the billionaire Bloomberg is laying the groundwork for an independent run for the White House. Speculation about the mayor's plans have intensified since it was announced Sunday that he would attend a forum in Oklahoma next week convened by a group disappointed in the Republican and Democratic parties. “I have the opportunity to participate in that dialogue as the mayor of New York City and I plan to do it,” Bloomberg said of the Unity 08 gathering. Bloomberg, who owns the financial media company Bloomberg LP, was a longtime Democrat then switched to the Republican Party to run for New York mayor in 2001. The second-term mayor, in June, left the GOP to become an independent. “I think what we have to do is, rather than pull ourselves apart and let the special interests dictate what we do, we've got to find ways to get the best and the brightest from both sides of the aisle, bring them together and get them to focus on the international and national issues that matter and do it in an intelligent way,” Bloomberg said. |
