Meet the warm and fuzzy Lloyd Blankfein.
Celebrating his eighth anniversary as the top dog at Goldman Sachs, Blankfein has been on a bit of a media blitz of late, appearing on several different TV outlets talking not about regulation or some misstep his bank had taken but about — dare it be said — some very hot-button political issues like immigration reform and energy independence.
Could the 59-year-old Bronx native, like Mike Bloomberg before him, be thinking about a career in politics after much success on Wall Street?
He wouldn’t be the first Goldman CEO to make the leap to politics from public service.
While the registered Democrat has made no move to politics, in an interview Wednesday night on “Charlie Rose,” Blankfein didn’t exactly slam the door shut on taking a government post.
“By some freakish reason, if I thought there was a good opportunity, and I could make a difference and do something good, of course I would,” he said, speaking of taking a government post.
The comments came as Blankfein has been conspicuously hobnobbing with politicos recently, from Vice President Joe Biden to former Mayor Bloomberg to talk about everything from energy policy to his growing up in public housing.
On CNBC, he waded into political waters, calling House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s primary defeat “stunning,” and defended likely 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton from criticism that she’s too close to Wall Street money.
Even having a small thought about taking a government post would mark a major transformation for Blankfein, who in 2008 stumbled through a US Senate committee hearing on the financial crisis.
Blankfein’s appearances of late have come off a lot better. Perhaps that’s a product of hiring the politically savvy Jake Siewert, a former White House press secretary under President Bill Clinton, as Goldman’s chief spokesman and re-branding expert.
“Everybody wants to be well-regarded, and he’s survived the populist attacks on bankers like himself,” said Mark Green, the former city public advocate who unsuccessfully ran against Bloomberg for mayor in 2001. “But he probably wouldn’t mind reframing his commercial and public lives.”
If Wednesday’s night’s “Charlie Rose” interview is any sign, Blankfein is earning good grades in his makeover.
In the “Charlie Rose” appearance, Blankfein seemed completely at ease, leaning back in his chair, and laughing about how he’s “paranoid” about the world. In the interview, Blankfein, in shirt sleeves and sporting a close-shaven beard, looked more like Joe Six-Pack than Alpha Male.
It was starkly different from his “Charlie Rose” appearance four years earlier. Then, wearing a dark suit and hunched over in his seat, Blankfein sometimes struggled to find the right word.
“Everything he’s done has been tied to an event,” said David Wells, a Goldman spokesman, who declined to comment on speculation about Blankfein’s political aspirations.