MICHAEL BLOOMBERG

Michael Bloomberg's recent decision to leave the GOP has reinforced my personal admiration for this guy. Here is a successful businessman who is reportedly worth $5b but doing all that he can in his position as mayor of New York City to promote healthy living, raise awareness of the the dangers of climate change, increase funding for to fight poverty in NYC and improve the educational standards of NYC public schools. That is all in addition to the fact that he has given about $100m towards embryonic stem cell research, supports equal rights for gays and respects the re-productive rights of women.

Compare Bloomberg to his predecessor Giuliani who has shamelessly exploited 9/11 to the benefit of his pocket book.

It is almost unimaginable that there are so many morons in America, most notably among conservatives, that Giuliani is most qualified among all the Presidential candidate to deal with terrorists from the Middle East just because he did a good job in picking this country up after the horrors on 9/11.

The aftermath of 9/11 provided Giuliani with a golden opportunity to highlight whatever leadership abilities he possessed. Despite what some of his critics have claimed about his handling of the crisis, my opinion is that, to his credit, he did a pretty good job. However, one's ability to efficiently and effectively clean up a mess does in no way indicate that that person is capable of preventing that mess from happening to begin with. There is NOTHING in Giuliani's resume that remotely suggests that he knows anything about Middle East foreign policies, military issues or terrorism-fighting strategies.

What Giuliani is doing is trying to pull a fast one over the eyes of the public. He talks up 9/11 as if he single-handedly killed all 21 hijackers with his bare hands. Of course, having an ignorant conservative audience certainly helps his cause. Who can blame him? After all, he needs to get all the way to the extreme right on any issue that is not related to abortion or gay rights in order to have a chance of winning the Republican nomination.

Bloomberg has not ruled out a bid for President and I hope that he runs. His willingness and ability to work in a bi-partisan fashion to get results for NYC is a harbinger of what he can do to repair this country's disastrous relationships with many countries in the world. Bloomberg for President!