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[Ed Jewett]

Diana Taylor, Bloomberg's Girlfriend, Criticizes Obama

By KATE TAYLOR

Published: September 30, 2011

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As New York's mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg is generally careful when discussing political leaders, measuring his words to avoid directly knocking anyone he might have to work with in representing the city's interests. But his girlfriend, Diana L. Taylor, apparently feels no such constraints.

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Diana L. Taylor and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. In a published interview, she attacks President Obama's performance.

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In an interview in The New York Observer, she spoke critically of two Democrats, President Obama and Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand of New York, and of the whole field of Republican presidential candidates.
On Mr. Obama: "For somebody's who's going to come in and be the great unifier you know, that hopey-changey stuff it hasn't worked very well. The country is more divided now than it's ever been. And he doesn't appreciate other people and what they do."
On Ms. Gillibrand, whom she once considered opposing for office: "I don't agree with her on anything."
On the Republican presidential field: "I don't really like any of them very much. A lot of them scare me ... a lot."
Her criticism of Mr. Obama contrasted most sharply with the mayor's neutral approach, which often includes acknowledging the scale of the economic problems the president is faced with. Asked last Sunday on "Meet the Press" to rate Mr. Obama's economic performance, Mr. Bloomberg gave a calibrated response, saying: "Some things I agree with, some things I don't. I think he has a vision. I think he's pushed some things which may or may not make a difference. But at least he's trying."
And, he added, "whether you like the president or not, everybody has to pull together and help the president, because as the president goes, so goes the country."
Ms. Taylor, a former state banking official who now works at an investment firm, was more critical in her interview. Speaking about Mr. Obama's handling of the economy, she said: "He should be a champion for this country, and he's not. Because that's where the jobs are going to come from. They're not going to come from government; they're going to come from the private sector."
Ms. Taylor also faulted the president's leadership on health care legislation, saying he had deferred too much to Congress.
"The last time I checked, the president was supposed to sit down and figure out what he wanted and then get Congress to go along with it. And we got a mess," she said of Mr. Obama's efforts on health care. "And exactly the same thing with financial regulation."

A version of this article appeared in print on October 1, 2011, on page A17 of the New York edition with the headline: Sharp Words by Bloomberg's Girlfriend.