Barack Obama endorsed Democratic New York mayoral candidate Bill Thompson! Sort of! But not really!

At the end of the press briefing today, Robert Gibbs said this:

"The president is the leader of the Democratic Party and as that would support the Democratic nominee," Gibbs said in response to a question from DN reporter Kenneth Bazinet.

"The president obviously has had a chance to, throughout campaigning and his time both as a candidate and as president, to meet, know and work with Mayor Bloomberg and obviously has a tremendous amount of respect for what he's done as well," Gibbs hastened to add.

Hah. "The Democratic nominee." That's Bill Thompson, though you wouldn't know it from Gibbs' statement.

Bloomberg might be the single most self-impressed person in New York, which is frankly a stunning feat. But he happens to think that his career making a lot of money and then semi-competently steering New York during an economic boom makes him basically more qualified to be President than anyone else. He still lives in that bubble where "management" skills are proof of political acumen and not evidence that you're just a dick. And "management" contempt for underlings generally goes unpunished if you're profitable.

Bloomberg didn't like Barack Obama. He never endorsed Barack Obama. Even after making a big deal of meeting with him, he offered only perfunctory compliments. But, you know, if they back a loser, they'll look weak!