Mayor Bloomberg's Achilles Heel
We’re reporting on our newscast tonight about a weird moment involving Mayor Mike Bloomberg today. He was at the news conference announcing Governor Paterson’s gay marriage bill, and during the mayor’s comments a reporter’s electronic device began playing music. Here’s video of the subsequent stare-down, which, by the way, was being broadcast live right here on Channel 11. Prepare to feel slightly uncomfortable...
Turns out the sound was coming from a tape recorder belonging to blogger Michael Harris, who’s disabled and uses a wheelchair. Harris says the device was in his coat pocket a few seats away. It was bumped by a photographer, which switched it on, and Harris had difficulty reaching it to turn it back off. Here’s coverage of the incident from The Daily News.
Harris says the mayor embarrassed him. Shortly after the news conference, Bloomberg said he would have done the same thing no matter who was responsible for the disruption. In fact, shortly into The Silence, you see city council speaker Christine Quinn whisper to the mayor, “He’s disabled.” A press spokesman for the mayor told me whenever there’s a disruption like this during a presentation, he simply waits until it’s resolved, whether the person is disabled or not. The spokesman added that the press office always makes an effort to accommodate Mr. Harris’s disability, even renting a wheelchair-accessible van for him when transportation to a mayoral event is being provided for city hall reporters.
I’m sure the mayor wasn’t trying to disrespect any specific individual. The fact that the whole thing involved a disabled man just made an awkward situation….more awkward. But it points out what I think is the mayor’s political Achilles heel: his tendency to become imperious, overly paternal, and flat-out snooty. Just about any way you cut it, that nearly two-minutes of icy silence at the news conference, combined with the withering stare, isn’t good political presentation. It seemed like Bloomberg was more than merely irritated; it was a sense of “how DARE anyone do this while I’M speaking.” It was interesting when Governor Paterson tried to ease the tension with a joke, saying the mayor was having his theme song played. Bloomberg should have chuckled at this point, and followed Paterson’s lead, but he just kept glaring. (Making it one of the few times in recent memory the governor has shown better political instincts than the mayor.)
Bloomberg is already running saturation campaign commercials, seven months before the election; something he can do because, you know, he has more money than God. But those ads are all about how the mayor understands the difficulties and needs of average New Yorkers. Incidents like today’s, which showed him as anything but understanding when stuff happens, conflicts with that message. BEING an entitled billionaire might help him get reelected. ACTING like one won’t.
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Comments: 37
Not even 15 billion bucks can buy him social skills, so why should Bloomberg start developing them now?
On the issue itself, it seems that no politician will dare to call for a referendum. That applies both to the bill's proponents, who fear it will fail, and to the Mayor, who showed his utter contempt for that process by going around the people and muscling the City Council to approve his third term bid.
And regarding Mike's position on the issue, I clearly recall his response to a reporter's question about it when he first ran in 2001. He was standing among participants at a gay pride event in the Village and, appropriately, he expressed his belief in the right of freedom of choice in intimate associations for all. Then he added this (I kid you not!) "For example, when I first got married, I happened to choose a partner of the opposite sex." Speaking of contempt for voters! Did he actually want his audience that day to believe that his choice was made by tossing a coin? That next time (aah, what the heck) "I'll balance things out by choosing a man"? Or what? It was then I knew for sure that New Yorkers would be treated to an all time low in political pandering if he got elected. AND I WAS SO RIGHT!
All I can say is Bloomberg was rude. And it was uncalled for.
Please NYers for the love of God, don't re-elect this arrogant fool. He overturns term limits, with the help of the City Council because he believe only HE can run the city. Dump him so he can go back to his company and he his arrogant self there.
Bloomberg was spot on. Jim, you are over-sensitive.
I think bloomberg should say sorry because he was very rude to a man in a wheel chair
I had no idea Bloomberg was such an asshole.
I think bloomberg should say sorry because he was very rude to a man in a wheel chair
I think bloomberg should say sorry because he was very rude to a man in a wheel chair
I think bloomberg should say sorry because he was very rude to a man in a wheel chair
Mayor Bloomberg's achilles heel is that he expects people to treat live news confrences like they are important and expects the audience to be respectful??? Mike H., you think his making those expectations clear means that he is lacking in social skills? Has the world gone mad?!
Mayor Bloombverg's actions at today's press conference were absolutely acceptable. In any professional meeting such a disturbance would not be tolerated and the person causing the disturbance would be singled out. Those of us that actually work in professional enviroments know this to be true.
The reporter wants an apology? He had a responsibility not to cause disruption and he failed to meet his responsibility so now the Mayor should be all warm and fuzzy? Way to hold people accountable!
I think that person is disabled or not is not the main issue.
Yes, it is not appropriate for the music to play in the situation, but I think Bloomberg can deal with this small incident in a MUCH better way.
Did you see Bloomberg's reaction and his face? It is like the guy who played the music killed his whole family or something. Even Gov. Peterson knows to put on a joke to ease the situation.
It is not the first time Bloomberg to be a politician, I am very surprised on his lack of basic political appearance skill, to have proper reaction (at least not turn your face blue) to unpleasant situations.
The last several days have not show cased our Mayor's social skills.
He was seen chewing gum and/or a snack at the installation of Archbishop Dolan on Wednesday. I read that the Mayor was a late arrival at the Governor's new conference today and it seems to me that the Mayor's display of crankiness should have been directed elsewhere, to his driver and/or his scheduling secretary, not at Mr. Harris.
I'm not voting for him, he could care less about anything that is not big business.
Oh, and those that are so vehemently angry about the many bailouts (the facetious tea party displays), where were you at the end of last year when the bail outs were voted on by Congress and the Senate?
If you supported it, stop complaining. If you didn't, where were you when the bailouts were being protested BEFORE they were voted on? There was a protest on Wall Street then in October, but everyone wanted to bail the banks out and it got no media coverage.
I'm really tired of the false sense of outrage Republicans are trying to foster to gain control back, and I'm tired of the Democrats too, they are both completely corrupt. If there's someone running for mayor that is NOT one of those two very irritating and corrupt parties, that's my pick for mayor.
"Spot on"? The guy looked like Kim Jong-il up there. If Bloomberg doesn't have the persona of a dictator, with his guerrilla-style governance of the city, I don't know who does. I was so thrilled he lost his bridge toll and West Side stadium proposals. Probably the first times in decades he's been told no for anything and actually had to accept it.
This was very strange and I believe uncalled for.
It was an accident, regardless whether the person is disabled or not. The fact that he was disabled makes it more disturbing. He made an inconsequential error newsworthy with his reaction.
I am usually a Bloomberg supported but not this time.
What part of an ACCIDENT are the Bloomberg-defenders here not understanding?? Someone had ACCIDENTLY bumped into the player which ACCIDENTLY turned it on and started playing music, the disabled person didn't INTENTIONALLY turn it on!! Enough with this "you have a responsibility to not cause disruption" crap.
How would you feel if someone pushed you down a set of escalators causing you to trample over the person in front of you and injuring him/her resulting in that person suing YOU for "irresponsible reckless endangerment"?
I understand that in the heat of the moment maybe Bloomberg couldn't tell it was an accident or knew about photographer's accident which set off the music-player in the first place but hopefully he knows now and should at least apologize to the poor guy.
The Mayor is a monster. He has absolutely no ability as a civic leader or city planner. He really needs to return to his role as CEO and the simplistic bottom line and leave our city to a civic minded individual. Is he going to be allowed to buy the mayorality once again for himself? It would seem so.
The point isn't whether respect is or isn't due when giving a live news conference. The point is Mike Bloomberg, who is a PROFESSIONAL and a politician should by now know how to conduct himself in the face of distractions. What, is this his first time in front of a camera and a disruptive audience? He could have easily ignored the music and given his announcement just as easy as it was for him to make a spectacle and ridicule someone in a public forum. That action alone speaks volumes of his character. Bloomberg was less concerned with the 'importance' of his announcement than he was showing his 'importance.' All he managed to do was come across as catty, snide and inflexible.
To that he gets a big 'BOOOO!'
Thanks Jim
One of life's mysteries is how this arrogant, mean-sprited, and condescending man maintains relatively high approval ratings in a city of people whose opinions he clearly despises (unless they're of his class and match his own). Through social relationships with the owners of the three metro dailies, he's guaranteed editorial approval of outrages such as his third-term switch and his closeness to the city's worst developers. He's stopped disguising his need for total domination, witness his lavish, self-financed campaign to preemptively wipe out any possibility of opposition. I hope to see someone produce clips of him bullying critics and reporters during the past eight years: an elegant low-budget way to reveal the real Mike Bloomberg.
Mayor Bloomberg handled the situation properly.
Handicapped or able bodied idividuals should be treated the same.This gent in the chair should
understand this.
Mayor Bloomberg handled the situation properly.
Handicapped or able bodied idividuals should be treated the same.This gent in the chair should
understand this.
I've been asked above, "Mike H., you think his making those expectations clear (decorum at a news conference) means that he is lacking in social skills?"
Looking at it in isolation, making clear to the offender his objection to disruption does not prove a lack of social skills. But holding up an event at length, while voicing that objection through a clipped and tight-lipped scowl, does reveal a lack of both warmth and tact - important social skills for a politician to at least PROJECT. Even an angry outburst would have revealed more sincerity than this controlled display. Then by not apologizing after learning of the accidental nature of the offense, he reveals another social lacking - stubbornness.
Why does such an intelligent person make no effort to correct these slip-ups? Bob Stone's got it right - he's already prearranged his success for November, or so he thinks he has. Now it's the voters, who could not get a third term referendum, that can prove him wrong.
It's a sad situation, but what's worse is that his groundbreaking support for same-sex marriage isn't the story. It's His Arrogance's arrogance. Gay marriage goes to page 8, while Bloomie's holier-than-thou attitude takes a back seat.
Bloomie, be a man, and apologize. This guy did little wrong by not genuflecting...because he couldn't. He's willing to let it go for that, so are you willing to expend political capital on more embarrassment?
NYers, you voted for him. Think twice for Term Three.
How dare a lazy handicapped man not immediately jump up from his cushy wheelchair and turn off the tape recorder at once, even if it is a few seats away? He is in the presence of a billionaire, and time is money. Mike has places to go and people to see, and with that massive carbon footprint of his every second that is wasted burns more money and greenhouse gases. Why, you can envision the crew of his Dassault Falcon jet waiting at Morristown airport, engines running, for the next campaign trip to Tel Aviv or Santo Domingo, or maybe just a run to one of the other homes like Bermuda, London or Vail (or is it Aspen?) When Mayor Mike is in NYC, he needs his time to ride the subways and walk the streets so he can hear what people have to say about the economy. I know this because he says so in his TV commercial. Money doesn't buy class.
Bloomberg doesn't have much of a personality. He always seems so stiff. If I had his billions I would buy myself an island near Tahiti, and forget about the election.
Jim,
I can still remember my Sociology teacher seizing control of an unruly 10th grade class. All he had to say was, "I'll wait."
It was amazing how even the rowdiest kids heard those words and chilled immediately. It was how he said it that showed he was still in control. You can't expect a guy like Bloomberg to say, "Ah excuse me sir could you turn that thing off?" Too much to ask of that arrogant guy with no social skills.
But how cool would it have been to hear Bloomy just say, "I'll wait."
Worked at Morristown High in '87.
LFJ
To be honest ladies & Gentelmen....I believe that the mayor wasn't really comfortable talking about the Gay issue from the begining and that tape recorder issue just showed how much he hated to talk about that subject....
Anyway, what he did and that look he gave to that reporter was not proper at all...was over and unneccessary.....
Please Mr. Mayor.....appologize to that poor reporter.....you have nothing to loose and lot to gain......Good luck
Jim Watkins you hit the nail on the head with this post. True colors are true colors. No amount of propaganda with ads or preparation by media handlers can change this.
Paterson was yawning when the new Arch Bishop was at St. Patricks. PRICELESS Bloomberg and Paterson make a great pair.
someone just got shot on arsdale ter in east orange nj 07018. But east orange finest catch the guy.
I guess Jim that Mayor Bloomberg might of have been in a campaign meltdown and needs to recharge and have consideration for the handicap. Like it says in the good book: Let us not judge others less we be judged.
What does Bloomberg's wealth have to do with this? Yes he is rich, but he is also very generous and donates tons of money to charity every year.
He is a good mayor. I'm not going to let something as silly as his "Achilles Heel" or some reporter trying to get his "15 minutes of fame" ruin my views on all the good that Bloomberg has done for the city.
I think people are making too big a deal out of this. There are more important issues going on in the world.
This is not the first time the mayor has displayed his contempt for those he considers 'beneath' him, and I doubt it will be the last. It amazes me that he would be elected as town dogcatcher with his elitist attitude(probably due to a napoleon complex as a result of his diminutive stature). He is a very small person(not in height), and his condescending remarks to a gentleman in a wheel chair are really no surprise. Good riddance to this blight on NYC....be gone Bloomberg.
Well just because he is disabled doesn't mean that he is better or worse then anyone every is equal.
Plus would we tolerate a guy hearing music in an important event like a funeral?
I think Bloomberg should say sorry to him. Bloomberg is looking down on people who is disabled. He got no right judging people like that. Who does he really thinks he is. Come on, saying sorry won't kill him. right???
Michael Harris has updated his Examiner.com page with his version of the incident
http://bit.ly/gtRYZ
Bloomberg is such a prick. What an arrogant fool.