What Time’s ‘New Action Heroes’ have in common

On an unseasonably hot May day in Central Park, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg — the pint-size billionaire whose last name needs no elaboration for anyone who knows anything about finance or the media — was talking about saving the planet. With the mayors of more than 30 of the world’s largest cities at his side, Bloomberg was opening a climate summit, highlighting his ambitious plan to slash the Big Apple’s carbon emissions. Together, the mayors pledged to enlist their 250 million constituents in the fight against global warming. “Unfortunately, partisan politics has immobilized Washington,” Bloomberg said. “But the public wants this problem solved. Cities can’t wait any longer for national governments to act.”

At a lab in Toronto a week later, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger — the fridge-size multimillionaire whose last name needs no elaboration, period — was talking about eliminating disease. The Governator was announcing a new stem-cell partnership with Ontario, highlighting the $3 billion his state is investing in research the Bush Administration has opposed. In that unmistakable Ahhll-be-bahhk accent, the five-time Mr. Universe spoke of his father-in-law Sargent Shriver, the Peace Corps founder who suffers from Alzheimer’s and no longer recognizes his family. “I look forward to curing all these terrible illnesses,” Schwarzenegger said. “We’re showing how powerful a state can be. Cahh-lifornia doesn’t need to wait for the Federal government.”