Mike Bloomberg: The Richest Man in New York City

I'm not really sure this was the time for an immense Michael Bloomberg profile, but I'm not un-convinced? (Have you heard? He is still mayor of New York.) In any event: it is here in the New Yorker, it is very long and it ate my afternoon. It seems a lot mushy around the edges? There are some great things? If you are looking for a leisurely read, this is it. There are two minor things that got my attention.

Off the record, would-be critics complain about a phenomenon I've come to know as "anticipatory genuflection," in which other politicians, anticipating a future or backup career in the nonprofit sector, when they might depend on the largesse of the extremely wealthy, defer too readily to the Mayor's wishes. Bloomberg has never seemed greatly troubled by the systematic implications of such placating, and he once responded to an anecdote about a charity's having expressed disappointment at the size of a check from the older of his two daughters, Emma, by saying, "That's not very smart. Emma is going to run a very large foundation of her own some day."

Yes, that is sort of what I expect from him and I never like it when I get it, you know? Blecho.

Also there is this:

Choire Sicha: From the Bloomberg profile: "As the former Times columnist Joyce Purnick writes in a new book, 'Mike Bloomberg: The Mogul and the Mayor,' to be published next month, 'Ed Koch had cracked the eggs, Giuliani had made the omelet, and then Bloomberg appeared, and served it.'"

Alex Balk: And Dinkins played tennis.

Choire Sicha: And John Lindsay turned over in his grave.

Alex Balk: Some joke about Anthony Weiner and the eggs being too expensive. Etc.

Right.