The political apology in the race for president

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg suddenly feels regret – just in time for his run for president. As mayor of New York for 12 years, Bloomberg oversaw an aggressive, tough on crime, stop-and-frisk policy that disproportionately targeted African Americans and Latinos. And for that he is sorry.That wasn’t his story a few months ago. Before he decided to jump in the race to unseat President Donald Trump, Bloomberg was not a fan of admitting wrong and maligned an apology culture in politics. He mocked presidential candidate and former vice-president Joe Biden and former presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke for bowing to pressure: Biden for an “apology tour” after criticism of a crime bill some believe led to the mass incarceration of black men, and O’Rourke for apologising for his white privilege.Yet, there was Bloomberg a couple of weeks ago standing before a congregation at an African American megachurch in Brooklyn seeking mercy. He had not yet announced his run for president, but the rumours were strong that he was. Despite trash-talking Biden, now his, political rival, Bloomberg needs the African American vote, which accounts for about a fifth of Democrats.A more than decade-long police state against brown people is not a good look. At the height of his stop-and-frisk programme, police stopped 575,000 people under the policy, and African American and Latinos were stopped the most according to The New York Times. Police made about 685,000 stops in 2011 and 87% were African American or Latino. It was bound to come up during the election and Bloomberg obviously sought to head it off early. Else, he runs the chance of looking like Trump, who has praised such policies throughout his term.Voters are holding candidates accountable for their past actions, but they shouldn’t stop their scrutiny at these apologies of convenience. Candidates need to prove their case beyond words. If not, people should show their displeasure at the ballot.One has seen the consequences of indiscriminate arrests in Baltimore, which is dealing with a population of people with criminal records who can’t get jobs. The issue came up when former Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley made a bid for president. Some say it was one factor that hurt his chances. If Bloomberg doesn’t want to end up in the same predicament and really wants to prove he’s sorry, he needs to lay out policies to improve the lives of people hurt by his choices. Critics are already looking sceptically at his attempt at atonement and have questioned the timing. Many of those caught up in the arrests probably weren’t given the same benefit of the doubt for their indiscretions and mistakes.Like with the other candidates in the race, one predicts Bloomberg won’t be able to brush off such an issue that has morphed into an indictment of the fairness of the justice system. Time will tell if Bloomberg’s speech was enough to shield him enough from criticism not to hurt his presidential bid. Or if people will see through his apology. – Tribune News Service