Power-hungry pols beware

His opponent, city comptroller Bill Thompson had neither money nor name recognition and still brought home 46 percent. Thompson’s unexpectedly strong showing had virtually nothing to do with him. It was a bracing message thrown high and inside to Bloomberg by voters who don’t like being steamrolled.

And that’s what Bloomberg did. Last year, he began bludgeoning the City Council to change the term limit law for elected officials so that he could run for a third term. Voters had approved a two-term limit in the ’90s and he had steadfastly opposed lifting it early in his administration.

But Bloomberg flipped when the end of his second term approached. After a sustained full-court press by his troops, the council cravenly passed the law he wanted in October 2008 that allowed a third term. It was challenged in court but was upheld.

What happened was Bloomberg drank the Kool-Aid. He came to believe in his unique superiority and was convinced beyond a moral certainty that he alone could carry the city through these hard times. He was probably right, but almost half of the voters, including longtime supporters, chastised him for this power grab. You wonder what Mayor Tom Menino would have done in the same situation.

While there are no term limits on mayors in Boston, there should be. All occupants of the office eventually grow stale. Everyone has a finite amount of creativity. Every issue at some point benefits from a fresh set of eyes. The question is when to leave the party. I’m guessing Menino, who cruised to victory here last week, will still be on the job when rising sea levels have submerged the Boston waterfront.

So for my money, the result in New York was perfect. Bloomberg won, as most New Yorkers, including the many who voted against him, secretly wanted him to do. But they pinned his ears back with a vital message that he had violated their trust, that he had gone from powerful mayor to untethered behemoth. This is democracy at its best. That this multibillionaire blew through so much of his own money to buy this election was offensive to many. That he warped the law was obscene.

Yet good government types have always chosen to focus more on Bloomberg’s manifest competence than the way he wielded his wealth to purchase the office, and for good reason. You can frown on his money and admire his leadership at the same time. In the end, leadership is what matters. The New York Times has endorsed Bloomberg three times, all the while complaining about his inappropriate use of his money.

The truth is, Bloomberg has been an outstanding mayor. He would have been a credible presidential candidate had he been able to make it through the primaries, which he would have never done. He radiates mature leadership.

He dismisses last week’s outcome as meaningless. He still wears the imperial purple. He simply couldn’t say something like, “I heard all of the voters today and promise to do a better job working with everyone in this city.’’ This tells us he hasn’t learned a thing.

Still, a win is a win. Ten years from now, will anyone remember the margin of victory? He thinks not, but I wonder. My guess is this election will be remembered as the one in which voters taught him a lesson in humility. That he didn’t grasp it isn’t their fault.

That said, Bloomberg will have to compromise more in this new term to get what he wants. The pols in Albany will be less afraid of him than they have been. He will be challenged more on policy. This is all good.

In Boston, by contrast, Menino can cruise, buoyed by his 15-point margin. He got his mandate, Bloomberg did not. This presumably makes Menino less likely to compromise, more likely to remain The Boss.

In one sense, the damage in New York has been done. The two-term limit is gone. The good news is that no two-term incumbent mayor in his right mind is going to run for a third term in the foreseeable future. Bloomberg’s squeaker last week stands as a cautionary tale to power-hungry politicians.

Third terms have always had a bad name in New York anyway. The administration of Mayor Edward Koch was plagued with scandal during his third term, and he was defeated in his bid for a fourth.

Here, former mayor Kevin White lost altitude in his third and faced big problems in his fourth term. The man who succeeded him, Ray Flynn, had lost much of his juice by the time, early in his third term, he was appointed ambassador to the Vatican by Bill Clinton. What’s going to happen to Menino in his fifth term is already the subject of much parlor talk.

As you might tell by now, the Observer is unforgiving with politicians who swear by term limits when they take office only to dismiss them after being there for awhile. I find little in politics more offensive than this, and I never miss a chance to whack former congressman Marty Meehan for reneging on an early, read my lips-like promise to serve no more than four terms.

I’m a big Bloomberg fan, and I’d have voted for him twice in a New York minute. But this time, I’d have been a Thompson guy. I don’t care if it’s John the Baptist. If he runs for a third term he loses me.

Sam Allis can be reached at allis@globe.com.