So far, I haven’t advocated for or against any particular candidates in the Democratic Party’s presidential contest and have kept more on the analytical side. But I have no reservations in offering a firm “hell no” to the prospect of Michael Bloomberg being the nominee. If you’ve been following my arguments about the status of the Democratic Party and the challenges it faces in winning a national election, then you won’t be surprised to hear this. I want the party to be more economically populist, although not necessarily in a straightforward “socialist” kind of way. I want the party to make the concerns of small town Americans front and center by talking about market consolidation, regional inequality, antitrust enforcement, and entrepreneurship, as well as social issues like the opioid crisis and mental health care.
It should go without saying that I don’t want a big city mayor who also happens to be a billionaire media mogul to be the face of the party or the person setting its priorities. Bloomberg has some admirable qualities but he’s a terrible fit for the left on almost every metric.
