Bloomberg Crams On Foreign Policy: Proof That He's Planning '08 Bid?

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been receiving foreign policy briefing sessions on a wide variety of topics, providing the strongest indication yet that he is considering a run for the White House, the Huffington Post has learned.

The sessions, which were confirmed by multiple sources, have been conducted with Nancy Soderberg, a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and a Clinton Administration foreign policy adviser. One source described her as "Bloomberg's Condi."

A range of topics have been discussed, from non-proliferation to the defense budget, with a specific focus on the war in Iraq.

These sessions dramatically contradict Bloomberg's denials that he is planning to run for president. The one aspect of his possible candidacy that is considered missing is foreign policy experience. These strategy sessions with Soderberg seem clearly designed to fortify that weakness.

The Huffington Post has also learned that one of the main reasons Soderberg was chosen is that she is not currently associated with any presidential campaign.

Soderberg was serving in New York City as the vice president of multilateral affairs for the International Crisis Group, a non-profit organization. Currently, she is a distinguished visiting professor at the University of North Florida. Soderberg is regarded as an expert in a variety of regions, including Northern Ireland, Indonesia, the Middle East and Africa. She did not return a request for comment.

Bloomberg's term as mayor expires in 2009. But rumors have been rampant that he will announce a third-party White House bid before then. And despite repeatedly claiming he is not interested in the job, Bloomberg has made several political moves that suggest otherwise.

Earlier in the year he switched his party affiliation from Republican to Independent (he previously was a Democrat). And in November, The Daily Telegraph in London reported that the New York City mayor had held at least three lunch meetings with officials from England's Independence Party.

The self-made billionaire, who founded Bloomberg LP, is seen as a formidable presidential contender. His billions in wealth would allow him to run a campaign without financial restrictions. And his handling of New York City gives him highly regarded executive leadership credentials, while his bipartisan appeal would siphon off votes from the two major party candidates.

The mayor's press office did not return a request for comment.

Comments

[DontSpin]

10:49 PM on 11/25/2007

I hope he runs and splits the republican vote. Let Bloomberg be to republican­s what Nader was to dems in 2000.

[fourex]

08:10 PM on 11/25/2007

Why do we want another war monger in the WH?

[Justtellthetruth]

01:28 AM on 11/24/2007

Let me pose the question again: Does anyone know Bloombergs views on Middle Eastern Policy,
Specifical­ly, His views ending the settlement­s and therefore helping to Bring Peace to the Middle east?

I feel that there is currently no more important Issue before us today. As Tony Blair said before Congress after 9/11, there will never be an end to the war on terror until a fair and equitable solution to the Isreali Palestinia­n conflict has been arrived at: ie ending the settlement and the ocupation. He is supported in his views by Jimmy Carter, Colin Powell, Many CIA analysts, and virtually jsut about every single other nation in the world.

HRC is totally in bed with AIPAC, and therefore not even under considerat­ion for me.

If bloomberg is willing to finally commit to the measures that we could take to force Israel to withdraw completely from the occupied territorie­s and allow a free palestinia­n state to emerge, then he might have my vote.

[themodernleader]

12:56 AM on 11/24/2007

Mr. Bloomberg: You can see a vacuum in American leadership when the timid, cowardly, demigogic candidates utter not one discouragi­ng word about this corrupt, bankrupt economic and financial system, including our bankrupted National Government­.
I would be reticent voting for you, however, unless you share the national, racial, religious and irreligiou­s makeup of your present administra­tion. Is there undue influence of specific groups or ideologies­? Additional­ly, you must convince me that you will not show preference­s for specific groups over the other groups in top, middle and staff leadership positions in your Executive. Third, you must convince me that you will play evenhanded­ly with all races, nationalit­ies and religions and irrelegion­s in your policies and procedures toward other nations.
If these questions are satisfacto­rily answered, I would consider voting for you if you can also articulate a rational national program to extricate us from the deep water we are sinking in.

[godlessclif]

08:34 PM on 11/23/2007

Thanks for scrubbing Podium, it brought the thread back to life.

[rbwinn]

08:32 PM on 11/23/2007

On election day I will still be the only candidate with a plan to end the war in Iraq. My plan is to go to Guantanamo­, load the "prisoners of war" onto airplanes, and take them back where they came from. Then I would order American troops in Iraq to stand down from all military operations except defense. Where would the war be?
Congress did not declare war. They gave the President "war powers", something the President does not need. The President already has all powers necessary to defend the United States as Commander in Chief. Since Congress did not declare war, the prisoners in Guantanamo are not prisoners of war. They need to be sent back where they came from so that Americans with mental problems are not tempted to torture them, causing further problems for the United States.
I have registered as an independen­t candidate for President of the United States, making me the only candidate with a workable plan to end the war in Iraq. I would certainly encourage citizens of the United States who are in favor of war to vote for Mr. Bloomberg or some other political party candidate. So far there are only two anti-war candidates­, Ron Paul and me. However, Mr. Paul has already said he will not run as an independen­t candidate and has not yet put forth any plan for ending the war. I will not run any other way because I have never been anything except an independen­t voter.

[BrickSykes]

08:30 PM on 11/23/2007

NO,NO,NO,N­O! A THOUSAND TIMES "NO!"

America doesn't need Any more Politician­s who want to run America "Like a Business!" America IS NOT a Business!!

America is a frickin' Country, and, it ain't nothing like a frickin' Business! That's just a lot of RepugniKon Mallarkey!­!!

American IS NOT an "Industry" either! So, don't even get started along that line. We need to move away from all that kind of talk about running America like a B-U-S-I-N-­E-S-S !! Okay ?

Brick

[Norge]

05:43 PM on 11/23/2007

The occupiers are the true insurgents and terrorists­. They have surged into the country and are terrorizin­g on a vast scale.

The locals know it is their land where their fathers,mo­thers,chil­dren, cousins, aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters and decendants and decendants and decendants have struggled out a meger existance for centuries into thousands of years. And clans have bled each other for the same amount of time and it will not stop today, tomorrow or next month or next year or, well perhaps next century when they will have to concern themselves a bit more about the weather.

It is a place where no one needs a weather person to tell them which way the wind blows.
They are people who know their land as the back of their hand and the foreigns will and in the past eventually leave, much bloodier than when they arrived and they will have spent a lot of money which they will leave behind when they leave.

If history has told us anything it is that.:

The occupiers will eventually leave much bloodier than when they arrived.

[ImpeachmentNOW]

04:39 PM on 11/23/2007

.
Here's one Democrat that hopes Hagel and/or Bloomberg and/or Dobbs will run as an independen­t. Then, if the Democratic Party is dumb enough to nominate the "flak"-ign­orant, Empty-Suit­, Rezko-part­ner-in-cri­me BO or the double-tal­king Conniving Calculatin­g Clinton (with more than 50% "disapprov­al") - in any combinatio­n - I'll have an alternativ­e for my vote. I'll bet millions will join me.

The pressure is now on for the Dems to do better. If the Dems "loser faction" is thwarted from going with Rezko's partner or Conniving and the Dems nominate a competent person, then - and only then - will they retain my vote.
.

[julianrpe]

03:50 PM on 11/23/2007

As far as ex-republi­can independen­t anti-war candidates go, I'd prefer Hagel, but if the dems do not wake up and elect someone besides hawkish Hillary I'd support Bloomberg based on his independen­ce and his more pensive attitudes on foreign policy. Although I'd much prefer an Obama or even a Kucinich presidency­, I am sick of the duopoly and think Bloomberg could help erase the dichotimiz­ed cancer that has plagued the electorate for too many years. Further, the limited spectrum of a Hillary vs. Giulliani race represents the interests of less than half of this country. I think many others on "both" sides would abandon another manipulati­vely manufactur­ed "safe" dem as well as a socially liberal rep, abandoning party politics in droves. Winning NY and Cali could aslo make Bloomberg a king maker.

[starrianna]

02:39 PM on 11/23/2007

**********­**********­**********­**********
EARTH TO BLOOMBERG: F U C K * O F F
**********­**********­**********­**********

We don't need you.
We don't need another rich fuck in the White House.

The People don't want any of the following:

Bloomberg
Forbes
Enron
Bush
__________­__________­_____ (fill in the blank)
__________­__________­_____ (fill in the blank)
__________­__________­_____ (fill in the blank)
__________­__________­_____ (fill in the blank)
__________­__________­_____ (fill in the blank)
__________­__________­_____ (fill in the blank)
__________­__________­_____ (fill in the blank)

[ChristopherLib]

12:33 PM on 11/23/2007

Please Bloomberg. Outside New York what support is this guy going to get? Democrats are not going to vote for him and risk swinging this country to another Republican administra­tions that could be as bad or worse than Bush. If he does get support it will be from independen­ts and disenchant­ed Republican­s, so really I don't fear his running, I encourage it. It will probably just give Democrats a wide margin of victory.

[kyeblue]

11:33 AM on 11/23/2007

Living in New York and having tasted Hillary, Rudy and Bloomberg. Bloomberg is the absolutely best of the three. he runs the city much more efficientl­y and fairly than Rudy and has much less baggage than Hillary. Without going through the primary, Bloomberg can run on the left of Hillary on the social issues and right to her on tax and spending, and does not have to contradict himself as Hillary and Rudy will have to do in the general election. His foreign policy is a big unknown, but he can choose a position that is most popular with the voters. His biggest weakness is his less appeal to mid-americ­a, but he could fix it by picking a VP in Chuck Hagel.

[ajax2]

11:17 AM on 11/23/2007

If Bloomberg wins, corporate control of our democracy will continue. Bloomberg supported the Bush murders in Iraq. He also supported the illegal police break-ins during the Republican National Convention in NYC. He apologizes for these crimes with, 'after 9-11 what could I do'. This is the exact insane fascist position that's going on right now in the WH.

A vote for Bloomberg is a vote for perpetual war, and diminished rights at home.

[godlessclif]

10:42 AM on 11/23/2007

collapse squareyell­owpaper (See profile | I'm a fan of squareyell­owpaper)
I have predicted for the last year that Bloomberg can win the election IF he runs as a thrid party choice.

He can call his party "The Corn Flakes Party" and, with Republican­s hoping fo keep their seats on the Hill, following him, it would work.

This would mark the end of the Moderate Republican­s who want to distance themselves from Bush and the Southern Christian Extremists who have driven the Republican Party into the ground.

If Bloomberg runs it would be a tough choice between him and Hillary." Yellow paper

Colbert already tried that with the Doritos Party. Can Bloomberg get on the ballet when Colbert can't?