Bloomberg Accepts Innovation Award

Despite multiple announcements that he will not run for president, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg continues to act as if he were on the campaign trail. Last week, Bloomberg was awarded the Fred Arditti Innovation Award by CME Group, a commodity futures exchange. Upon receiving the award for “innovation as the essence of leadership," the mayor infused his audience at Chicago's Peninsula Hotel with a call to action, citing the need for leadership in a globalized, highly competitive world. Bloomberg also had plenty of criticism for government's handling of immigration, global warming, and education, accusing the federal government of stopping innovation and wasting money on earmarks. With language typically reserved for political candidates, Bloomberg called on his audience to "hold our elected officials’ feet to the fire" and denounced the exporting of both industries and "intellectual capital" overseas, claiming that the U.S. is losing out in a more competitive world. The New York mayor even advocated term limits on politcians as a solution. His involvement in national issues is rightly puzzling, given his claims that he will not run for president.