The Man Likes What He Sees in the Mirror

Michael R. Bloomberg, long one of the nation’s most-admired big-city mayors, is not accustomed to seeing his popularity used as comic fodder. But there he was, at the black-tie White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, when Seth Meyers, of “Saturday Night Live” fame, strode to the rostrum and, in front of much of the nation’s political, media and entertainment elite, let loose with a joke about a Bloomberg-sponsored after-party. 

“You know how I know I’m not in New York?” Mr. Meyers asked. “In New York, no one is excited to go to a Bloomberg party.” Cheers broke out as Mr. Meyers, still holding the punch line, raised his voice. “In New York, a Bloomberg party is five people smoking outside a bar, complaining about Bloomberg.”

Mr. Meyers, in that quick dig on April 30, captured the plight of the third-term mayor. Mr. Bloomberg continues to receive attention from the national news media that would make a presidential candidate blush. On Wednesday, he appeared on NBC’s “Today” and CBS’s “Early Show” to talk about the killing of Osama bin Laden, and the previous week he was invited to discuss the economy, immigration and national politics on “Fox News Sunday,” PBS’s “Tavis Smiley” show and NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

But at home, Mr. Bloomberg faces an abundance of negative sentiment, much of it a result of New York City’s botched response to a snowstorm in December, his ill-fated decision to appoint Cathleen P. Black to lead the public school system and lingering unhappiness over his bulldozing of term limits in 2008.

The data-driven mayor, who has spent many millions of dollars on polls for his campaigns, has tried to bolster his public standing with a rare nonelection-year advertising campaign.

But now he is going further, arguing — already — that his legacy as mayor will overshadow short-term stumbles. At times it sounds as if he is trying to convince himself, as much as the public, that his current unpopularity will not define his tenure.

“I’m going to do the best job I can,” the mayor told Chris Wallace on the Fox show. “Hopefully, the public will like it, but even if they don’t, I’ve got to look in the mirror. What I see in the mirror is somebody, I hope, that has the courage to do what’s right, not what is politic. And afterwards, people will look back and say whether or not he was a good mayor or a bad mayor.”

Two days later, speaking with Mr. Smiley, Mr. Bloomberg offered a similar refrain. “The public may be upset,” he said, “but in the end, you’ve got to like what you see in the mirror.”

In the aftermath of Bin Laden’s death, the mayor again played a unifying role in the city. On Monday at the World Trade Center site, he spoke confidently about New York’s security and the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan. On Thursday, he returned to ground zero, accompanying President Obama at a wreath-laying ceremony.

Mr. Bloomberg has spoken of the challenges of remaining popular while making tough decisions at other turning points in his tenure, including at the end of his first term, and when he was contemplating a bid for the presidency.

But he now seems keenly aware that his time as mayor is running out. He often mentions the precise number of days he has left in office; on Tuesday, for example, at a news conference announcing a new taxicab design, he wryly noted, “In 973 days, I’ll be back to taking taxis.”

On “The Early Show” on Wednesday, he used a discussion of rebuilding at the World Trade Center site to offer yet another critique of real-time report cards, lamenting the tendency of New Yorkers to complain about a lack of visible progress. “History will look back and say to get where we are today really was quite amazing,” he said. “That’s from the perspective of history, rather than journalism.”

Mr. Bloomberg’s focus on the future is, perhaps, a natural development more than nine years into his mayoralty. Long-term mayors have fared well in Chicago and Boston, but New York has been different — Edward I. Koch, in particular, had a difficult third term, complicated by corruption scandals.

Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said Mr. Bloomberg was confronting the inevitable wear and tear of a lengthy stay in the public eye. Mr. Bloomberg’s approval rating, once as high as 75 percent, dropped to 39 percent in the most recent Quinnipiac poll.

“He wants to go down in history as maybe the best mayor that New York ever had,” Mr. Carroll, a former New York political reporter, said. “It’s quite possible that he might. But he’s also been around long enough for people to get a little bored and upset with him.”

Critics of the mayor say the negative feedback sends a message that Mr. Bloomberg should focus on the here and now.

“His mind is in a different space than most people if he is talking about how he will be judged,” said Councilman Jumaane D. Williams of Brooklyn, who has often faulted Mr. Bloomberg. “What’s happening now is not positive, and history cannot revise it.”

But Ester R. Fuchs, a Columbia political scientist who advised Mr. Bloomberg from 2002 to 2006, said the mayor looked at opinion polls as only one data point, never as an overriding factor. 

“People call him arrogant, but it’s not a question of not listening,” Ms. Fuchs said. “The real truth is that he’s not making any policy decision based on poll numbers. He’s willing to sacrifice short-term standing in the polls for what he believes to be in the best interest of the city.”  

Stu Loeser, the mayor’s press secretary, said that because Mr. Bloomberg “will never run for an office again,” he had the ability to focus on the long term without worrying about political consequences.

In news media appearances, Mr. Bloomberg is emphasizing his political independence — he offers criticism and advice for Democrats and Republicans — and reminding the public of what he sees as his greatest achievements: raising students’ test scores, keeping crime low and invigorating the local economy.

“Those are the things that matter, and those are the things that I’ll be judged on,” he told Mr. Wallace.

Of course, it is hard for any executive to win over the public at a time of deep budget cuts, and Mr. Bloomberg is no exception. He released his executive budget on Friday, calling for cuts to the teaching force. Unions and community groups are planning protests.

Mr. Bloomberg, for all his talk about standing firm in the face of criticism, has already made some adjustments in his third term. He replaced Ms. Black as schools chancellor when it became clear she had lost the confidence of her subordinates. And he has pledged to use more city workers for information-technology projects in the aftermath of a payroll scandal involving consultant contracts.

Mr. Bloomberg has argued that it is hard for mayors to be popular because they must take action on a host of issues every day. “There’s no easy answers, and you’re not going to be popular for being a mayor and having to make decisions,” he said on “The Charlie Rose Show” in March.

He added: “Every time you make a decision, you lose half the people. After five decisions, there’s only you and your mother, and I’m not sure about her.”

The mayor has also pointed out that he survived a period of unpopularity in 2003, when he drew the ire of many city residents for broadening a smoking ban and raising property taxes.

“I was getting a lot of one-fingered waves in parades,” he recalled in his interview with Mr. Smiley. “In the end, we were right.”