Boren: No 'Burning Desire' by Bloomberg to be President

David Boren, the University of Oklahoma president and former Senator who is hosting the bipartisan panel here told reporters afterwards that he didn’t think Michael Bloomberg had the “ambition” to be president.

“I’ll put it to you this way," he said. "I take the mayor at his word. I don’t really think the mayor wants to run. Does that mean the mayor would never run if the system--if he still views the system as failing? I think he’s a good American, and I don’t think he’d close the door on it if he thought it was his duty."

He added, “I don’t think he has the ambition to run for president. And I think he hopes like the rest of us, hope against hope, that the two parties will rise to the occasion.”

Boren went on to say, "I would say in our conversations, I can't quote him exactly and I don't think it would be right for me to quote him exactly. Every indication I have is he does not have a burning desire to run for president of the United States. He does not have an ambition to run for president of the United States. I think he hopes that the system will work without his having to do that."