Tin Ear, Tone Deaf

Can you imagine if the series of crises and snafus that have plagued the mayor recently had happened in his first term? Remarkably, the mayor has been extraordinarily luck until now and his inability to encompass the human side of leadership never became a big political liability for him-until now.

So after the snow fall-parking issue and the school bus fiasco the mayor travels down to Miami instead of staying put here to demonstrate a small bit of solace for the folks who are grieving after the horrific fire in the Bronx. As the NY Post editorializes this morning the mayor is a gifted administrator but he is "a deeply flawed mayor. Time and time again over the past five-plus years, Bloomberg had demonstrated an appalling inability to connect with the people of New York in times of crisis."

You can even here this in the language that he uses to defend himself when challenged. As the NY Times story this morning highlights the mayor "testily" responded to a reporter's question about his absence from the city, after he had attempted to joke about his Florida trip as a kind of spring break, "Mayor's Gone Wild" adventure.

One thing is for sure here. The people have concluded that their current mayor cannot be expected to exhibit any compassion, as the latest Q-Poll mayoral approval numbers seem to indicate. The next set of candidates are likely to be held to a different standard since these things do appear to be cyclical. Mayoral aloofness can get old fast and we would bet that the next mayor will have more of an engaged passionate persona than Cool Hand Mike.