Hizzoner The President? Or, If A “Republican In Name Only” Speaks To A Graduating Class, Do Independents And Moderates In Middle America Actually Notice?

If he really wanted to be provocative, he would have come out against, say, tort reform limiting medical malpractice damages (whoops — wrong speech!):

By warning a graduating class of doctors to reject “faith-based science,” Mr. Bloomberg yesterday signaled yet again that he plans to use his second term to take the national stage.

The mayor railed against letting “ideology get in the way of truth,” and singled out creationism, global warming, and stem cell research as topics where science is under attack.

Mr. Bloomberg’s views on these issues — and on other topics he’s taken on over the last few months — barely register outside the five boroughs. But after winning re-election by a record margin, Mr. Bloomberg, a billionaire, is becoming increasingly vocal and eager to address controversial topics.

“It boggles the mind that nearly two centuries after Darwin, and 80 years after John Scopes was put on trial, this country is still debating the validity of evolution,” Mr. Bloomberg told graduating medical students at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he earned his bachelor’s degree.

Mr. Bloomberg combined two of his favorite topics, science and education, when he criticized school districts in Kansas and Mississippi that want to teach “intelligent design,” the theory that human life cannot be explained solely by evolution. He said schools would be “condemning these students to an inferior education” by promoting faith over settled science.

And forget local issues like, say, garbage collection and Sunday parking — this time it’s about a “national conversation”:

The interim dean at Baruch College’s school of public affairs, David Birdsell, said Mr. Bloomberg was clearly using his office as a bully pulpit on a national scale.

“If you look at what Bloomberg is calling attention to in this speech, it is clear that he is attacking national issues,” Mr. Birdsell said.

“He certainly sounds like a person who at least during these remaining three years wants to use the mayoralty to shape a national conversation, if not a national candidacy,” he said.