Editing Mortimer Zuckerman (section)

==Politics==
In addition to his publishing and real-estate interests, Zuckerman is also a frequent [[Pundit (expert)|commentator]] on world affairs, both as an editorialist and on television. He regularly appeared on ''[[MSNBC]]'' and ''[[The McLaughlin Group]]'' and writes columns for ''U.S. News & World Report'' and the ''New York Daily News''.

Zuckerman has varied in his party affiliations over time,<ref>[[Alex Pareene|Pareene, Alex]] (November 23, 2010) [http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/11/23/hack_list_15/index.html War Room's Hack Thirty – No. 15: Mort Zuckerman] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110303042811/http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/11/23/hack_list_15/index.html |date=March 3, 2011 }}, ''[[Salon.com]]''</ref> since the late 1970s.

On July 12, 2010, Zuckerman said in an interview that he had helped to write one of President [[Barack Obama]]'s political speeches.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/07/12/mort_zuckerman_admits_he_wrote_one_of_obamas_speeches.html |title=Video – Mort Zuckerman Admits He Helped Write One Of Obama's Speeches |publisher=RealClearPolitics |date=July 12, 2010 |access-date=July 17, 2011}}</ref>  Long-time Obama speechwriters [[Jon Favreau (speechwriter)|Jon Favreau]] and [[Ben Rhodes (speechwriter)|Ben Rhodes]] disputed that and asserted that neither "has ever met or spoken to Mort Zuckerman."<ref>{{cite web |last=Smith |first=Ben |url=http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0710/Zuckermans_contribution.html |title=Zuckerman's contribution – Ben Smith |publisher=Politico.Com |date=July 13, 2010 |access-date=July 17, 2011}}</ref> Zuckerman later published a clarification of his remarks by stating that his help had come in the form of private conversations with various political officials in which he had offered advice and perspective on different issues.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://politics.usnews.com/opinion/mzuckerman/articles/2010/07/13/mort-zuckerman-clarifies-obama-speechwriting-comment.html |title=Mort Zuckerman Clarifies Obama Speechwriting Comment – U.S. News & World Report |publisher=Politics.usnews.com |date=July 13, 2010 |access-date=July 17, 2011}}</ref>

Zuckerman, a long-time supporter of the Democratic party who cast his vote for [[Barack Obama]] in the 2008 presidential election, was critical of President Obama on several fronts.  Following the downgrade of US treasury debt by [[Standard & Poor's]] in 2011, Zuckerman wrote in ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'': "I long for a triple-A president to run a triple-A country."<ref name="Freeman">{{cite news |last=Freeman |first=James |title=The Exasperation of the Democratic Billionaire |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204002304576628673446417268 |work=Wall Street Journal |access-date=October 15, 2011 |date=October 15, 2011}}</ref> After initially supporting Obama's call for heavy infrastructure spending to revive the economy, Zuckerman criticized the composition of the plan: "if you look at the make-up of the stimulus program, roughly half of it went to state and local municipalities, which is in effect to the municipal unions which are at the core of the Democratic party."<ref name="Freeman" />

On Obama's healthcare reform bill, Zuckerman stated, "Eighty percent of the country wanted them to get costs under control, not to extend the coverage. They used all their political capital to extend the coverage. I always had the feeling the country looked at the bill and said, 'Well, he may be doing it because he wants to be a transformational president, but I want to get my costs down!'"<ref name="Freeman" />