High-powered advisers to Mr. Bloomberg—and even the mayor himself—have … floated the possibility of a mayoral run to at least five boldface figures, highlighting their worry that City Hall could fall into less nimble hands.

—The Times

Memo

To: Head of Search Committee

From: The Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg, Supreme Leader of the City of New York

Re: Potential Successors

Thanks for compiling the list. See my comments below. We’ve got to be careful here: they don’t call it the second-toughest job in America (I am assuming they mean after C.E.O. of Bloomberg LP) for nothing!

—Mike

Chuck Schumer

Would be a big step up for him—and maybe too much of one. To be one of a hundred is very different from being the _one—_and then having to look someone hard in the eye and say, “I, and I alone, am responsible for having approved your zoning proposal.”

Hillary Clinton

I know we offered it and she turned it down, but I’ve changed my mind on the offer. This job isn’t some game of diplomacy. You have to be ready for that phone to ring at three in the morning, and on the other end is a voice asking you to approve the new color scheme for the restaurant grades.

Colin Powell

He was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sure, but is he ready to be a commander of ten thousand garbage trucks? Plus, what if there were a blizzard? Would he know to call the plow company?

Kofi Annan

I’m an admirer, and I know he’s had his eye on the office for a while. But you have to ask: Is he ready to have his finger on the button? The one that cancels school for a day? That said, I like him for Parks Commissioner.

Bill Clinton

He knows how to work a room, true, and he’s got solid executive experience. But, ideally, I’d like to see him thicken up his resume a bit first. I’ll admit he could be a solid candidate in 2017 or 2021.

Lech Walesa

I appreciate some of the things he’s done for Poland, but a job where you have to make a hard decision about whether and how much to expand bus service in Staten Island—and then live with the consequences of that decision—is another thing altogether.

Oprah Winfrey

Nice outside-the-box thinking on this one, but, frankly, the job requires a lot more than strong communication skills. Has she ever even cut a ribbon?

Margaret Thatcher

Experience on the non-parliamentary side of things a little thin.

Barack Obama

Good leadership credentials, good decision-making ability (although it remains to be seen if he’d have the guts to issue a Zone A evacuation order, if—God forbid—it came to that). But all right, let’s not kid ourselves—he’s not going to take this job. A lot more stress than he’s used to.

Nelson Mandela

Over-all strong qualities, plus I think he’s “ready” in many ways. But what about patience—are we sure he could sweat out a meeting with the sanitation board?

Pope Benedict XVI

He probably does have the necessary name recognition, internationally speaking at least. (I can already see you rolling your eyes, but it does matter for this job.)

God

Yes, you’ve hit on it! The perfect choice. My one question, and it’s an important one: How’s his Spanish?

Illustration by Tom Bachtell.