Bloomberg's Obama endorsement is a vote for big government in time of crisis

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/01/bloomberg-obama-endorsement-vote-big-government

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It would be weird if Hurricane Sandy didn't play a role in New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg's endorsement of Obama. In an ideal world, Sandy would play a role in everyone's decision about who to support for president, including those who already voiced a preference. (Confidential to Heavy-Hearted in NJ: it's not too late!)

As with many issues close to the hearts of progressives, Obama has not been as decisive and legislatively active regarding climate change as they would like. It's not even clear he could do more – so much depends on a cooperative Congress. But at least, he continues to acknowledge that the problem exists. Mitt Romney can only be counted on to move whichever way the wind blows, not questioning too deeply if it carries greenhouse gases with it.

Bloomberg didn't cite climate change alone, of course. He laid out a brief list of issues – including reproductive rights and marriage equality – any one of which would strike a chord with independent voters who aren't, you know, still primarily concerned with keeping their jobs and paying their bills.

Sandy has pushed off the splash-page a lot of what the presidential campaigns had been focusing on. For actual voters, however, Sandy's aftermath has only driven home the precariousness of their economic, and even physical, safety.

With these concerns at the forefront of their minds, Bloomberg's reasons for endorsing Obama matter less to swing voters than the fact of it. On Twitter, political know-it-alls dismissed the mayor weighing in as an ineffectual gesture by an east coast elite with sarcasm along the lines of "I'd been waiting for the New York billionaire to tell me what to do!" (Of course, for some reason, we're still paying attention to Donald Trump.)

Yet, Bloomberg's turn to Obama – even his decision to make an endorsement at all – matters because his wealth and location are details compared to his reputation for getting things done. If he sometimes uses his power to accomplish things that people don't necessarily want, like "big soda" bans, I wonder if, in this time of national political gridlock, Bloomberg's affection for the nanny state isn't as important as his animation of it.

If there was a time for government-as-helicopter-parent, it's now. We can rebel later, when the lights come back on.