“Those things he could do right now,” Bloomberg said of Obama. “I, for the life of me, don’t understand why he just doesn’t do it.”
Directing opprobrium at Obama while reserving warm words for House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) has the added benefit for Bloomberg of boosting his bipartisan bona fides. Most important, his aides say, it keeps pressure on the president.
Bloomberg suggested that Obama lacks the relationships necessary to pass legislation in Congress. The critique is remarkable coming from a famously irascible mayor with a lackluster history of wooing lawmakers.
“Leaders cajole, bribe, threaten, slather. They build relationships,” said Bloomberg, who compared the president unfavorably to Bill Clinton, “a people person” who used the golf course as an office.
The White House declined to comment on Bloomberg’s critique and his gun-control campaign.
Bloomberg acknowledged that Obama and congressional Democrats “at the moment” seemed committed to doing something on guns.
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