Rootless Cosmopolitan

We read the New Yorker's 10,000-word Bloomberg piece over lunch (as Slate says, so you don't have to). No news in it, though Anthony seems to be trying to convince us otherwise. But this struck us as an interesting observation (italics added): "[Bloomberg] pointed to another, less obvious sign that the city was doing well: architectural trends.... 'All the great architects seem to want to work here. For a while, London had every great architect. Hong Kong had them. But they never came to New York. Now, whether it's Sir Norman Foster, or Cesar Pelli, Viñoly, Piano—they all want to work here.' "It difficult to imagine Bloomberg's predecessors judging their records in these terms, but Bloomberg, who was born and raised in Medford, Massachusetts, is less parochial than most mayors. Like many businessmen who travel a lot, he thinks globally. He often talks about securing New York's place as the world's leading city—a status that Koch and Giuliani would never have thought of questioning in the first place. One reason that he wants New York to host the Olympics—and it is also why he brought the Republican Convention here—is to showcase the city to a worldwide audience.Unfortunately for Bloomberg, most New Yorkers don't much care what people in Europe and Asia think of them. "He tries to hide his cosmopolitan tendencies, riding the subway to work, attending Yankees games, dining out on Staten Island, and wearing ethnic headgear when the occasion demands. But not even he takes this pose seriously."