We all know that Mayor Bloomberg is wealthy. In fact, he’s the wealthiest person out of all the 8 million people who live in New York City. The top 0.000013 percent! But while that’s an asset in pretty much every facet of life, it can be a hindrance in politics, since voters generally prefer politicians who seem like ordinary folk, and there’s nothing ordinary about $16 billion. Bloomberg does make some effort to seem like an average guy mostly by wearing casual, unbuttoned shirts in his ubiquitous campaign ads but the moments he lets an out-of-touch comment slip are when he garners the most attention. Like when he recently said that pharmaceutical executives, who in fact earn on average $3.65 million a year, “don’t make a lot of money.” Whoops. But Hizzoner might finally be getting the memo on this “man of the people” thing. Although he took in a horse show in the Hamptons over the weekend (which is about as elite as it gets), he made sure to squeeze in a special message just for the voters. “I’m not into this fancy food, like shrimp, caviar, and lobster,” Bloomberg told the Daily News. “I like hot dogs, hamburgers, and fried chicken the best. I like real food for real people.” Now that’s some nakedly populist posturing if we’ve ever seen it. Finally.
Mayor Bloomberg noshes like a regular ol’ Joe at tony Hamptons fete [Brawl for the Hall/NYDN]
