New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has moved in recent days to reclaim the title of the nation’s top Washington outsider, embarking on a messaging tour to blast Congress and the White House for failing to reach a bipartisan agreement on deficit reduction.

In numerous TV and radio appearances, Bloomberg has criticized Democrats and Republicans for their “political cowardice.” He’s endorsed proposals for debt reduction that include ending the Bush tax cuts and implementing the Simpson-Bowles Commission’s austerity plan.

And in a departure from Bloomberg’s general practice of not criticizing the president – and calling on the country to unite behind him – the mayor accused President Barack Obama of failing to “provide leadership in difficult situations.”

On one level, Bloomberg’s media blitz is more of the same for a politician who has long sought out influence in national politics, often on a similar set of issues.

But to some, Bloomberg’s national messaging tour also looks like an escape from a third term that has not gone as hoped for. From botched snow removal last winter to a ticket-fixing scandal in the New York Police Department, to – most infamously – Bloomberg’s showdown with Occupy Wall Street, there’s a palpable sense that things have soured on the home front.

Against that backdrop, the tumult of national politics might look like a relatively welcoming place for Bloomberg to start shaping a post-mayoral role for himself.

“My suspicion is he hasn’t quite figured out what his next act is, but the one thing he knows he wants is to stay relevant and continue cultivating his brand as the independent, sane, grown-up voice in American politics,” said Democratic strategist Dan Gerstein, a veteran of Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman’s independent 2006 campaign. “This plays into his sweet spot: It’s the intersection of independence, adult leadership, and finance and economics.”

Attacking Washington over the budget showdown, Gerstein said, is a way for Bloomberg to try and put the political quagmire of Occupy Wall Street behind him – and to reclaim a public identity other than that of an investment banker-defending media billionaire.

“This episode has – not just in terms of his management of the protests, but in how he talked about the underlying issues – done real damage to his brand,” said the strategist. “Both the perception and substance is that he’s out of sync with the mood of the country in some of his comments about the nature of capitalism today and income inequality.”

Bloomberg advisers dismiss the notion that the mayor is diverting attention from the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, which the NYPD broke up last week.

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