Mike Would Have Dinner Parties and Piss All Over Obama: Why Obamaworld Is Mad About Bloomberg's Ad

[Skya Rhen]

“Mike Would Have Dinner Parties and Piss All Over Obama”: Why Obamaworld Is Mad About Bloomberg’s Obama Ads
Heading toward Super Tuesday, the Bloomberg campaign is trying to grab Obama’s mantle. But many Obamans remember a time when the two weren’t exactly close.

The logic of the current Democratic primary contest dictates that Michael Bloomberg portray himself as Barack Obama’s true heir. And so, with Bloomberg’s vast resources, it has come to pass. A 30-second spot began circulating earlier this month that portrays Bloomberg and Obama as close allies. The spot pairs photos of the two together with encomiums from the former president. “I want to thank the mayor of this great city, Mayor Bloomberg, for his extraordinary leadership,” Obama intones at one point.

Obamaworld, with its long memory, was not happy. “I was triggered by the ad,” a former Obama official said. “The ubiquity of the ads is what bothers me,” Dan Pfeiffer, Obama’s former communications director told me. “Bloomberg didn’t endorse Obama in 2008, and in 2012 he offered a tepid endorsement that included parts that read like an RNC attack ad.”

Several recent reports have acknowledged Bloomberg’s policy differences with Obama, but sources close to both men tell me the antagonism runs much deeper. In private, Obama thinks Bloomberg acted high-handed and arrogant, while Bloomberg has told friends that Obama is a lightweight, sources said. “Mike would have dinner parties and piss all over Obama when he was president. I know because I attended them,” a prominent Democratic donor told me.

The chasm between Bloomberg and Obama first opened when Obama ran in 2007. Bloomberg seriously toyed with the idea of running for president, a longtime dream of his chief political adviser Kevin Sheekey. When Bloomberg didn’t get into the race, he backed fellow Republican John McCain. At a dinner party during the 2008 election, a source remembers Bloomberg’s longtime girlfriend, Diana Taylor, getting into an argument with Sheekey’s wife, who was supporting Obama. “How can you be so stupid to be for someone like Obama?” Taylor asked, the person told me. “Diana was repeating what Mike would say about Obama, except it was louder,” the source recalled. (The Bloomberg campaign did not respond to a request for comment.)


A confidant of both Bloomberg and Obama told me the tension between them was in part fueled by Bloomberg’s belief that he should be president. “Bloomberg would belittle Obama in private. It was like, That should have been me in the White House. There was jealousy there,” the source said.

Although Bloomberg is running to defeat Donald Trump, some people close to the campaign say Bloomberg’s embrace of Obama is, well, Trumpian. “It’s becoming an incredible turnoff. He’s flooding the airwaves with nonstop ads that are just not accurate,” a prominent Democrat who speaks frequently to the campaign told me.

Another person with close ties to the campaign said Bloomberg’s strategy is, in effect, to say whatever he needs to say to win key states on Super Tuesday. According to the source, Bloomberg didn’t want to debate the other candidates. The campaign had hoped to saturate television with ads and avoid the press until Super Tuesday, but the DNC changed the requirements to put him onstage. “There are no rules on the campaign,” the source said.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/02/why-obamaworld-is-mad-about-bloombergs-obama-ads

[hlthe2b]

1. Underscores my fears about Bloomberg...

[Skya Rhen]

4. He's a strategic and more diplomatic Trump.

[2naSalit]

2. I haven't been in favor of his

campaign from the start and this is one reason why. He is not our friend, he is not on our side. He is -45 with table manners and he'll stab you if it benefits him.

[kstewart33]

3. I've been reading Vanity Fair pieces on the campaigns.

It's obvious that they are no fans of Bloomberg.

Bloomberg has his issues and he has some explaining to do. But he can beat Trump. He knows how to fight Trump.

And we must beat Trump.

[Skya Rhen]

6. How can anyone, in good conscience, be "a fan" of his?

[Doremus]

8. Why do you say he can beat Trump?

Are you simply repeating what you hear pundits and/or posters say?

Because in order to beat Trump, people actually have to vote for the guy. He's got baggage coming out of his ears, none of it good and all of it racist, misogynistic, anti-poor, etc. He's an egomaniacal authoritarian who didn't want to leave the mayor's office when his term was up so he had council change the law just for him. Sound familiar? The LAST thing we need after dump is ANOTHER authoritarian egomaniac.

The 'he can beat trump' line is pure bullshit from an establishment that doesn't want to relinquish its death grip and instead give us another 40 years of incrementalism.

[Saviolo]

11. 40 years of incrementalism

While the climate change crisis grows exponentially, too. It's too big a risk. We need bold strokes.

[Doremus]

12. Agree. nt

[redstateblues]

14. This election is a referendum on Trump. Bloomberg can beat him. Bernie can't

[Doremus]

15. Your opinion said quite authoritatively is still your opinion.

Virtually all polls show all our candidates beating dump.

[redstateblues]

16. That will change when the Republicans remind us about Bernie's past.

He has damning baggage. The nub is that America will not elect a Socialist. It’ll be ugly

[ibegurpard]

5. This was the most interesting part of it in my opinion

"The campaign had hoped to saturate television with ads and avoid the press until Super Tuesday, but the DNC changed the requirements to put him onstage. “There are no rules on the campaign,” the source said."

The DNC was taking a lot of flack for "changing the rules" to get Bloomberg into the debate but it looks like they did the right thing.

[Corgigal]

7. This former

New Yorker didn’t vote for Trump, not voting for Bloomberg either.

Damn it America, listen to us...once.

[Gothmog]

9. Biden on Bloomberg

Link to tweet

[PatrickforO]

10. Obama was NOT a lightweight. Not by a long shot.

Well, I'm not a big Bloomberg fan anyway.

But in this wonderful post-Citizens-United capitalist utopia, his ads can't hurt. God knows, the media won't report what a dirt-bag Trump is. Bloomberg at least has the money to get the message out.

A billion dollars, so they say...

[Aaron Pereira]

13. It's one thing to disagree with Obama on policy but he's no lightweight.

I don't think I've ever heard him dismissed by that particular term.