The Reigning Mayor's Running Denial

"This town is sort of built on partisanship," he lamented. Later, he added: "If we pull together and get to work and don't let the partisan bickering get in the way, I think we can make a change in this country."

This sounded like an independent's campaign theme. So did his implicit rebukes of the Republican front-runner, Rudy Giuliani, who preceded Bloomberg as New York mayor. "When I came into office, we had 12,000 teachers a year quit or retire," he said. "This past year, we had only 5,000 quit or retire."

Then there was his swipe at Republicans' immigration policies. "This anti-immigration wave is the single most damaging thing that's taking place in this country right now," he said.

And he kept pace with the Democratic candidates' proposals for new government programs. He proposed an $8.5 billion annual increase in low-income tax incentives and promoted a new program in New York that would pay residents for passing tests and working full time. But to protect himself from the tax-and-spend label, he invoked his Wall Street credentials.

"I've always been a big capitalist," he reminded the Brookings crowd.

The big capitalist continued this potential campaign theme in his news conference. "We need somebody that can stand up and bring jobs to this country but also train the people who are here," he said, again offering the reminder that "I run an international company, or at least own an international company."

Though vowing that "I'm not here to preach to anybody else," Bloomberg, asked to critique the (other) candidates' anti-poverty programs, plunged unbidden into a long discussion of everything from Iraq to cigarettes. "We have to change and innovate and try new things," he said. "Unfortunately, we have been unwilling to do it and [with] the leadership that we've gotten from Washington . . . we haven't done what's needed to keep America competitive."

From our rhetoric, it sounds as if we have found a niche for ourself in the presidential race.