Is Mike Bloomberg pulling a redux of Mario Cuomo’s 1991-1992 rendition of Hamlet on the Hudson, with all the attendant frustration engendered among would-be supporters?
Or is New York’s mayor simply adopting the same methodical, clear-eyed analytical practices he used in becoming a wildly successful billionaire businessman to assessing a possible presidential run, with the same dispassionate willingness to walk away from it as he would from a less-than-perfect business deal?
Is Kevin Sheekey (the brilliant, lightning-tongued former Moynihan staffer currently known as the deputy mayor for running for president) laying the groundwork for an actual independent presidential campaign? Or is he (brilliantly) raising his client’s profile to the point where Bloomberg will top every potential new president’s short list for any job that might interest him — whether it’s vice president, Treasury secretary, president of the World Bank, or something not yet imagined?
The answer? All of the above.