Bloomberg Struck Out Looking

Like many other people, Greg Costikyan has put a first-person account of his experience of the blackout on his blog. He includes the following account of Michael Bloomberg being interviewed on how the city handled the crisis.

I listen to our clueless mayor flubbing two set up questions from journalists, viz:

JOURNALIST 1: How would you say our municipal employees have responded to the current crisis?

RIGHT ANSWER: By god, these brave men and women have more than risen to the occasion, and I'm proud beyond words, etc., etc., etc.

ACTUAL ANSWER (was something like): Well, they did their jobs, and when they were called upon, they were there for the citizens of this city, etc., etc.

JOURNALIST 2: In the dead of the night, with the darkened city looming above you, what thoughts went through your head? Did there seem a sense to you that the world is different from how we normally perceive it?

RIGHT ANSWER: Well... Yes... I see what you mean... I remember looking up at the Emprie State Building and realiznig how extraordinary this all is, and how strange it is that we depend so much on electrical power for our day to day existence— But you have to understand that I've also been very busy for the last 24 hours trying to get thigns back to normal, and trying to ensure that our city does not suffer from this extraordinary hiatus in its normal life.... (etc., etc.)

ACTUAL ANSWER (was something like): Well, I was talking to someone.... And I said... We all have to get a grip. Just deal with it. There's nothing extraordinary. Thank God so few people died. Let's just focus on the mundane day to day, and there's no point in even attempting to acknowledge that something pretty weird happened here, or even that there was a positive side.

My basic takeaway from all of this is that Bloomberg is exactly the kind of down-to-earth technocrat that I want running my city, and will without question vote for him in the next election—but that I also question his sanity, at least when it comes to attracting votes. Both of those questions were gentle lobs, letting him slam-dunk them in a way guaranteed to play with the voters; the first, letting him praise our municipal workers, as they deserve to be be praised, and let everyone in the city feel happy about the emergency response. The second, letting him wax poetic for a moment, and let us all feel that yes, it's true, he really does love this city in a way beyond reason, as we all do—but doesn't let that distract him from his plain and certain duty.

Instead "They did their duty" and "Poetry escapes me."

Dweeb.

Bloomberg got the job done, but he flubbed the spin. I actually find something reassuring and refreshing about this.