Michael Bloomberg has succumbed to political temptation, the clearest sign so far that the he will actually be running for president. The former mayor of New York just flew to Iowa, laid his face to the ground, and begged forgiveness of the ethanol barons he had previously criticized.
The actual humiliation was more subtle, of course. But while Bloomberg never left his feet, the groveling was unmistakable. He said “ethanol and biofuels are part of the energy mix.”
Those words aren’t out of the ordinary coming from a politician looking for support in Iowa. Ethanol is a $5 billion dollar industry and a sacred cow in the Corn Belt state. The majority of that money comes from a federally subsidy called the Renewable Fuels Standard and explains exactly why Bloomberg’s words are so significant.
Until recently, Bloomberg was one of the brave politicians. He didn’t bow down to the ethanol industry like everyone from Hillary Clinton to Mitt Romney (but not 2016 Iowa winner Ted Cruz) had before him. Bloomberg condemned corn subsidies for cronyism, global food shortages, and pollution. It wasn’t a fleeting thing either.
The New Yorker has held these ideas for more than a decade, like I noted yesterday:
Bloomberg wasn’t wrong, as I noted Tuesday:
Bloomberg threw away the moral high ground. His ethanol conversion will help him avoid immediate criticism and provide some cover should he compete in Iowa’s first in the country caucuses. It will not, however, win him any respect, because his new biofuel beliefs are just like everyone else’s. And like every other politician, Bloomberg just proved that he will say anything to become president.
