Bloomberg's Chance

As Michael Bloomberg suddenly becomes a viable alternative to Joe Biden at a time when Biden is tanking and Bernie Sanders - who, as the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, would be an American Jeremy Corbyn - is rising, questions about the former New York City mayor have surfaced, and he faces a triple whammy two weeks and change before Super Tuesday.  

Bloomberg still has to deal with the fallout from the "stop and frisk" policy toward young black men that he pursued as New York City mayor, his alleged defense of redlining, and newly released information about having made sexually suggestive comments about female employees before he became mayor of New York.  And since Bloomberg is quickly emerging as the one Democrat who could beat Donald Trump now that the Ukraine scandal has hurt Biden while leaving Trump unscathed, he has to go on a damage-control initiative that's less damage and more control.  Because when you have the opposite of that, you're Gary Hart.

Bloomberg has offered numerous explanations for policies he now says he regrets, saying that his "stop and frisk" policy followed demographic trends and insisting that what he meant when he said that the end of redlining caused the housing crisis was that predatory lenders lent money to people in low-income areas who couldn't possibly pay them back. As for these latest sexism charges, Bloomberg's supporters have pointed out that these charges are from the early nineties, and that he's changed his attitude toward women over time.  Fine.  So maybe Bloomberg ought to take part in the Democratic debates and offer an explanation and some damage control to establish himself for Super Tuesday.

Democratic activists are fuming over Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez's decision to change the campaign funding requirements and thus allow Bloomberg to take part in the February 19 Democratic presidential debate, assuming he meets the threshold in four nationwide polls.  Having qualified in three polls, Bloomberg should take the opportunity to participate in the debate if he qualifies in a fourth poll and make a sincere effort to put all of these controversies behind him.  It's all good and fine for him to go after Trump now, but he's not the nominee yet.