Mayor Bloomberg deserves an answer. “What can I do?” he demanded to know when reporters pressed him about his absence following Sunday’s train crash.
Here’s his answer: Show up. That’s the job, and until Jan. 1, he should do it without whining.
It is a blot on his record that he remained AWOL despite knowing the horrific details. As four riders lay dead and scores were injured in the Bronx derailment, the mayor continued to play golf in Bermuda. His admission that he learned of the tragedy soon after it happened at 7:20 a.m. but didn’t return to the city until nightfall shows an indifference that is like telling the boss to “take this job and shove it.”
Suppose the accident had not been an accident. Suppose scores were dead and hundreds injured. Would the mayor have continued to play golf?
However you slice it, there’s no defense for his decision. He blew off his responsibility because he doesn’t have to face voters again, and the effort by aides to argue that the mayor could play because Gov. Cuomo was working is pathetic. It’s impossible to imagine Ed Koch or Rudy Giuliani making the “it’s not my job” argument.
Indeed, even Bill de Blasio knows better. The mayor-elect said it was “important to be there” and added: “My instinct is to be present even if the city is not the lead.”
To be lectured to by de Blasio must gall Bloomberg, but he can only blame himself. He screwed up big time.
For most of his 12 years, Bloomy has been admirably disciplined about not flaunting the freedom his immense wealth allows. He entered public service for the best of reasons, and a fair reading of his record will show major accomplishments among some failures and incompletes.
Still, the lure of his “Plan B” lifestyle, as he called it, caused two notable mistakes. He bought a $600 bicycle during a transit strike, a tin-ear goof he didn’t repeat until 2010, when he stayed away while a massive Christmas blizzard buried New York.
Those mistakes stand out because he was otherwise diligent. He never took a real vacation, content to slip away on his private jet for a day or long weekend at one of his houses.
Yet as his days dwindle down, the discipline is wearing thin, leading to increased testiness and gaffes. Insiders tell me his mood swings between depression and anger because he is alternately fearful he will be forgotten and furious that de Blasio won in a landslide by promising to turn the page on the Bloomberg era.
On some level, the resentment is understandable. The mayor and the NYPD kept the city remarkably safe and signs of investment are visible throughout the five boroughs. Jobs are at a historic high, a fitting bookend to historic low crime rates. Much of New York gleams in what I call a golden age.
Of course, there is much more to do. And no matter what, there always will be populist-sounding demagogues like de Blasio ready to wage class warfare by exploiting economic imbalances.
But anybody who goes into public life knows that politics is a fickle business, a fact best captured by British voters firing Winston Churchill just months after Nazi Germany surrendered. “What have you done for me lately” is the coin of democracy’s realm.
All of which suggests another reason why the mayor should have jetted home immediately. The charge that he only cares about Manhattan and wealthy people is a slander, but it is an article of faith among core de Blasio supporters. By failing to show up, Bloomberg gave them a fresh reason to embrace their ignorance.
A pity.
O, No, Say Dems
The most important poll is one most people missed. A Quinnipiac survey that came out the day before Thanksgiving made no news, but it could signal that a Democratic apocalypse is taking shape.
The survey found President Obama’s job approval in Ohio falling to 34 percent, his lowest score in any Q-poll ever. It found a whopping 61 percent disapprove of his performance.
Even worse, Ohio voters say, by 57– 39 percent, that Obama is not honest or trustworthy. Hide the silverware — the president is coming to town!
He also hit a new low of 36 percent approval in Colorado last month.
ObamaCare and his lies about it are driving the numbers downhill. Only 35 percent in Ohio approve of the law, while just 16 percent tell Quinnipiac they expect their personal health care will be better a year from now. Some 45 percent say it will be worse.
“This is a state considered to be a national bellwether where he got 51 percent of the vote just 12 months ago,” poll director Peter Brown said. He noted that only 27 percent of white voters, along with 83 percent of black voters, approve of Obama’s performance.
In other words, the bottom is falling out and there’s no floor in sight. Continuing headlines about people losing their insurance and doctors, and paying more for less coverage, should lead Democratic candidates to abandon him before next year’s elections.
Or, dopey Dems who supported ObamaCare could be seduced by happy talk to stick with him. In that case, they ought to prepare to be unemployed.
Which is exactly what they deserve.
Glad to cheer real heroes
The state of politics is downright dreary, so it was a pleasure Monday to celebrate two men who make the city and country better. Philanthropist Roger Hertog and retired Gen. David Petraeus were rightly hailed as “history makers” by the New-York Historical Society.
Both men were born to immigrant parents and, in moving speeches, reflected on the shared values of hard work and patriotism that shaped their lives.
Predictably, Petraeus’ appearance provoked a rabble to gather outside and denounce the City University for hiring him to teach. They called him a “war criminal.”
I wasn’t alone in telling them where to go. It didn’t have any impact, but it sure felt good to speak up for a genuine American hero.
No way Joe can save US!
Just as the ball always finds the weak link on a baseball team, a crisis has found Caroline Kennedy. Our dilettante ambassador to Japan probably thought she would spend her days in pomp and circumstance, but China’s aggressive moves are rattling Asia. Things are so bad that Joe Biden is riding to her rescue.
Now we’re really in trouble.
XXXtra, XXXtra read all about it
The Gray Lady has discovered sex sells, sort of.
Fresh off a Page 1 picture that flashed a nipple to illustrate a story on breast cancer, The Times editors featured a photo of mating bugs with the headline, “Why we like to watch insects having sex.”
Actually, some of us don’t, so there’s another XXX story they could do.