Cook on the Demands of Office

In the deluge of potential distractions, I always make time to read Charlie Cook's "Off to the Races," his column on politics and elections, available as a free email newsletter (link). This week, he is considering the possibility of a third-party run by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, perhaps in company with Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel. Here, Cook offers a neat recap of what is up with Bloomberg as mayor, together with one boffo basic insight about the demands of office--any office, I suspect, public or private:

Bloomberg marked the point of having 1,000 days remaining in his second term as mayor by making a novel request of his department heads. In effect, Bloomberg told them to imagine they were about to leave office and to prepare transition reports for their successors, outlining the problems that they would inherit. Then he told them to analyze the reports and figure out which problems can realistically be solved over the next 1,000 days. Bloomberg has very high approval ratings, but said that if he left office with similar high marks, it would mean he hadn't tried to do enough and had left unspent political capital on the table.

Itals mine. That's the kind of thing the rest of us may forget from time, but a seasoned pol (or a seasoned manager, I suspect) just has to remember.