Oh dang. Many d(r)owntown New Yorkers may still not have the power to vote Tuesday, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) is flexing his own powers today with a new endorsement of Barack Obama (made, like a boss, via op-ed for his own news organization).
Reuters / Eduardo Munoz
The devastation that Hurricane Sandy brought to New York City and much of the Northeast — in lost lives, lost homes and lost business — brought the stakes of Tuesday’s presidential election into sharp relief …
Our climate is changing. And while the increase in extreme weather we have experienced in New York City and around the world may or may not be the result of it, the risk that it might be — given this week’s devastation — should compel all elected leaders to take immediate action. …
We need leadership from the White House — and over the past four years, President Barack Obama has taken major steps to reduce our carbon consumption …
Bloomberg didn’t endorse anyone in 2008. This time around, both Obama and Mitt Romney have been courting the mayor hard, but neither won him over with their “gibberish” answers on gun control at the debates. From The New York Times:
In announcing his endorsement, Mr. Bloomberg listed the various steps Mr. Obama had taken over the last four years to confront the issue of climate change, including pushing regulations that seek to curtail emissions from cars and power plants.
Ezra Klein of The Washington Post says the endorsement is a really big deal:
5. Bloomberg’s not endorsing Obama so much as he’s trying to reset the incentives on climate change. It’s a huge play.
— Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) November 1, 2012
6. And by tying the endorsement to Sandy, Bloomberg is trying to cement the idea that Sandy=climate change
— Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) November 1, 2012
