A multi-billionaire politician has entered the US presidential contest calculating that money and nimble electioneering may wrong-foot the billionaire leader of the US.
Michael Bloomberg, a media magnate and philanthropist, has only a slim chance of winning the Democratic party nomination and, even if he succeeds, will face an uphill struggle to dethrone Donald Trump. Yet his entry into an already crowded field of 17 Democrat hopefuls is more than the last-ditch bid for power of a man who relished his three terms as New York mayor. It is an acknowledgement of a weak and divided Democratic challenge and that only a politician with cross-party appeal can end the deep polarisation of American politics.
Bloomberg is a full-square Democrat on gun control and climate change, a multilateralist and business-friendly. He may be worth $54 billion, but he is not a son of privilege. And in the topsy-turvy world of contemporary politics, where tribal allegiances are worn thin, he may yet stand a sliver of a chance. American politics can only benefit from listening to what he has to say.
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