Breathless Speculation

With Michael Bloomberg introducing Barack Obama at Obama's "major speech" on modernizing financial market regulation, has the time come to replace pointless speculation about a Bloomberg presidential bid with pointless speculation about a Bloomberg vice presidential bid? I say: Yes. What better way to balance a ticket headed by a lanky black guy from Hawaii/Chicago than by adding a short Jewish guy from Boston/New York? It sounds ideal to me. Plus if Haim Saban and friends follow through on their threat to cut off the flow of big checks if Hillary Clinton doesn't get her way, Bloomberg bucks could make up the difference easily.

[Pointless speculation over]

What I'd really like to see Bloomberg do with his career, though, is invest some of his vast wealth in starting up a new policy analysis and advocacy center focused on issues of big cities and urbanism. Outside of the sub-set of urban issues that have to do with inner-city education policy, there's almost no investment in these issues in the policy game. Alternatively, Bloomberg could leave NYC and move on to a second political career as the mayor of a more challenging city. He did a good job in New York, but can he tackle the more serious problems of a Baltimore? A Detroit? That'd be truly great mayoring.