Like all visionaries, Michael Bloomberg has seen his share of criticism from skeptics. At Salomon Brothers, where he first made his name and his fortune, the top executives didn't give him his due, so he left to form his own company.
Initially, at Bloomberg L.P., naysayers didn't see the wisdom of using the Bloomberg Terminal — now one of themost potent tools available to Wall Streeters. And today, as Bloomberg leads New York City in his third term, the doubters are heaping dirt on his mayoral legacy because the city had a hard time picking up the snow a few weeks ago.
That's ridiculous.
As any resident of New York knows well, Bloomberg has been a terrific mayor: tough, fair, organized, unflinching, and highly principled.
Many of us wish there was some way he could graduate from the "second-toughest job in the world" to the toughest: POTUS. Oh, sure, I'm happy to take my chances with Barack Obama, mind you. But it would be interesting to see whether Mayor Mike could turn around Washington.
Bloomberg will rebound from the snow-removal debacle, all right. He is used to criticism, for sure.
He understands that people like to hurl abuse at big winners. When I worked for Bloomberg L.P. in the 1990s, he used to remind us: You're never more vulnerable than when you're No. 1.
The man knows his stuff. Don't count him out.
Jon Friedman writes the Media Web column for MarketWatch.com Click here to read his latest column.
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