Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (D) says that former Vice President Joe Biden is not up to the job of the presidency.
In an interview on CNN on Monday night, Bloomberg suggested that Biden’s experience as a senator and vice president has not prepared him for the presidency.
“You don’t think he’s ready for the job?” Host Don Lemon asked.
“He is a legislator, and the job requires a manager, an executive, and I feel very strongly about that,” Bloomberg responded.
Watch the interview below:
Additionally, Bloomberg said that a senator or vice president without experience as a mayor, or governor, would not be prepared to be president.
Bloomberg argued that mayors have more executive experience than legislators. Additionally, he suggested that many presidents have promised to implement new policies to address issues, but failed to follow through and implement them.
“Look at what this country has done. We again, and again, and again, have a press conference, ‘I’m going to take care of you. I love you. I feel your pain. And here I’ve got this bill that is going to take you to the promised land.’ And then the bill, even if it gets passed, it never gets funded. Nobody implements it. There’s nobody that tracks it afterward to find out whether you actually delivered the services to the people that you said you’re going to people.”
“And incidentally, if I was wrong, you would not see the income and wealth disparities in this country. You wouldn’t see the difference in people’s rights and their ability to express themselves and to vote and that sort of thing. No, the country is not doing well and it’s because we have the wrong kind of person,” he added.
During the Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina, Bloomberg argued that his tenure as mayor of New York was “training for this job.”
On Monday, Biden responded to Bloomberg’s comments and said the presidency “requires someone who has a track record.”
“And, the president handed me significant responsibility and presidential authority when I was the vice president. I’m the guy that managed the $900 billion Recovery Act, I got the votes for it and I got it passed. As well as that I managed it day to day.”
“You need someone who knows something about foreign policy,” he said, adding, “I like Mike, but he knows zero about foreign policy.”
For his part, Biden has pointed to his years as a senator and vice president as evidence that he can get legislation passed through Congress.
“I’m in a position where I take something, and I’ll promise you I’ll get done,” he said in an NBC News interview in February.
