Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire and former Mayor of New York, wants to run for President, joining the billionaire’s club that is either already running (Tom Steyer)¹ or that was considering running (Howard Schultz).²

Seriously, enough with these Billionaires who think that they’re qualified to be President. At least Blomberg was the two-term Mayor of New York, so that he has actual government experience.

But, if he gets in, he would be he second Mayor of New York to get into the race, and I think he would find (as Bill DeBlasio did) that what plays well in New York doesn’t necessarily play well in Preoria.

As billionaires comes and go, Bloomberg, Schultz and Steyer are pretty good guys. They are a whole lot better than Sheldon Adelson, Robert Mercer and the Koch brothers.

However, what all three of these guys (Bloomberg, Schultz and Steyer) lack, is charisma. Not a one of them has much charisma. And without charisma, it’s hard to be elected President of the United States.

Bloomberg has also been a political vagabond. He started as a Democrat, switched to Republican to run as Mayor of New York, and then switched to being an Independent. This would now be his third switch, if he were to run again as a Democrat.

In addition, Bloomberg is 77 years old, putting him in the same age bracket with Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.

Bloomberg seems to think that Joe Biden will fade, and maybe he will. But Biden still has by far the best numbers against Trump, and is a very credible, experienced guy. With lots of appeal to middle America.

I wouldn’t count him out yet.

At least Bloomberg isn’t proposing to run as a 3rd Party candidate, with the potential of splitting the anti-Trump vote.

1. Tom Steyer is a self-made hedge-fund billionaire, the founder of Farallon Capital, which currently manages over $20 billion in assets. Like a lot of progressive billionaires, Steyer signed The Giving Pledge, promising to donate half of his fortune to charity during his lifetime.
2. Howard Schultz is the founder and former CEO of Starbucks, and also co-founded the investment group Maveron. Schultz flirted publicly with running for President as an Independent, but eventually decided against it, citing the risk of re-electing Donald Trump.