Mayor Bloomberg today launched his strongest attack on Washington, accusing the nation’s lawmakers of “political cowardice” and blasting President Obama as a failed leader.
“I just think that the failure of the supercommittee to come to an agreement is a damning indictment of Washington’s ability to govern this country,” the mayor said during a press conference announcing a supermarket opening on Staten Island.
SUPERCOMMITTEE CO-CHAIRS CONCEDE FAILURE
The special committee was supposed to develop a plan for trimming $1.2 trillion from the national deficit over the next 10 years.
Bloomberg said its failure to do so was especially galling since the full committee hadn’t met for three and a half weeks.
“What kind of a government is that?” he asked. “I don’t know how you reach an agreement if you don’t sit down at the table and talk to each other.”
As is his practice, the mayor blamed “both sides of the aisle.”
But, uncharacteristically, he also lit into Obama.
“It’s the chief executive’s job to bring people together and to provide leadership in difficult situations,” the mayor said. “I don’t see that happening.”
He argued that “partisan paralysis and political cowardice” represented a greater threat to the US than the European bond crisis or the ascent of China.
“This is a disaster for the country,” the mayor declared.
Obama’s stock is sinking fast in the Bloomberg household.
Two months ago, the mayor’s longtime companion also questioned the president’s abilities to govern.
“For somebody’s who’s going to come in and be the great unifier — you know, that hopey-changey stuff — it hasn’t worked very well. The country is more divided now than it’s ever been. And he doesn’t appreciate other people and what they do,” said Diana Taylor.