TR, FDR, Reagan … and Michael Bloomberg?

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has done an okay job of not undoing any of Rudy Giuliani’s signature reforms. But this excerpt from Jon Meacham’s more-than-6,000-word-long cover story in Newsweek is absolute hyperbole:

Note what else he remembers, too: The raised platform. The assembled revelers. Photographers snapping away. A real live microphone. For Bloomberg, public service and public attention are inextricably linked, and he thrives in the spotlight. From TR to FDR to Reagan, our greatest politicians have understood that showmanship is a critical element of leadership, and Bloomberg is among the best showmen and leaders at work in American politics.

Really? “Among the best”? You’ve got to wonder why Bloomberg has received so much fawning attention from the media, since he is identified closely with no particular ideology, issue, or movement, and does not command any real broad base of national support. But then you realize that he does have a lot of money, owns an incredible media company, throws some great parties, and is the executive of the jurisdiction in which most of the major magazine editors and television news producers live. The Bloomberg presidential bubble seems more and more like one of the greatest cases of New York City parochialism in my lifetime. Sounds like it’s time again to dust off the old Saul Steinberg “View of the World” New Yorker cover.

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