25 février 2004

The political non-politician strategy

Well, well, well. This is really contrary to a number of recent examples. It seems that NYC's mayor Michael Bloomberg is attempting a makeover into a regular pol, if you believe today's New York Times (free registration required).

Howard Dean and Wesley Clark, in the US, and Belinda Stronach, in Canada, are all examples of candidates that have attempted (all with some success, perception-wise) to position themselves as non-pols. At one point, Clark is quoted as saying: "I'm an outsider. I don't owe anybody anything and I make my decisions based on what's good for the U.S.A. It seems like my worthy opponents in this race, they're good people, I like them, but they are part of that culture(...). While they've been talking and debating about issues, I've been (...) making decisions and leading." Stronach is quoted in the release announcing the fact that she was entering the race as saying: "I am not a professional politician. But I have met a payroll."

In fact, Bloomberg himself did exactly that until recently: "I ran for office promising to bring an outsider's perspective to government" is a quote from his January 2003 State of the City address.

Looking forward to see if this works out for him.

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