Rudy Giuliani for President!
By streetwise Posted in 2008 — Comments (7) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
The challenge: typical lefty brain, disembodied thought processes, addicted to ideology, driven by a priori reasoning and generally up to no good.
The answer: top-notch righty brain, pragmatic, superb leader, flawed and human, uncanny ability to clean up those lefty brain messes, has the right adversaries at home and the right enemies abroad.
The GOP has five good, although hardly perfect, candidates in 2008. We have to choose one of them. In my opinion, the deciding factor should be the match between the challenges of the times ahead and the man. I think that Rudy Giuliani is the best match and thus the best man.
We are living in a psychologically bifurcated age. Seven years after the momentous events of 9/11, there is an overwhelming desire to return to normalcy and domestic pursuits. The gravitational pull of complacency on terror and foreign policy is there. Indeed, it is beckoning. At the same time, the Democratic party has moved steadily to the left and has become infatuated with Big Government approaches to just about everything on the domestic front, in marked contrast to Bill Clinton’s centrist days. They are just itching to raise taxes, ramp up regulation and quite possibly go protectionist as well. Like the Bourbons, they have learned nothing and forgotten nothing during their eight year exile from the White House. Alas, in an atmosphere of Bush fatigue, they still can draw on the best brains in the academy and the MSM to promote their autocratic, dirigiste approach to governance.
Then there are times when the challenges of terrorism and foreign wars become frighteningly clear, despite the inclination of liberal elites to live in denial, and most normal people feel the fear. The nearly miraculous success of the surge has put an end to the agonizing stage of the post-liberation terror war. That gain must be preserved in both the name of security and human rights in Iraq. The Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, Syrian imperialism in Lebanon, the seizure of the British sailors by Iran, a renewed spate of terrorism in Algeria, the assassination of Ms. Bhutto and the instability of nuclear Pakistan, the suppressed terror plots in the US and the UK are all reminders of the speed with which crises arise.
Rudy can handle these conflicting impulses and lead America towards sound government. In domestic affairs, he has fought the debilitating effects of Big Government and liberal philosophy for years, and has won most of his battles against an entrenched Democratic and media elite. On foreign affairs and terrorism, Rudy’s prosecutorial experience in nabbing bad guys, his crisis management skills in running one of the most diverse, tension-prone cities on earth and finally his superb performance under fire on 9/11 are as good a qualification for the presidency in these times as one can get.
Rudy has faults, as is the case with all candidates. Some are trivial, others deserve more attention, which I hope to give in subsequent blogs. But they don’t matter much in the grand scheme of things. Rudy is the best man for this job in these times, even though we have four other good men. It’s just as simple as that.
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"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
"The gravitational pull of complacency on terror and foreign policy is there. Indeed, it is beckoning."
With the exception of Fred, I think Rudy is the only one that can keep this front and center, right where it needs to be for now.
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"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." ~Professor Dumbledore
Anyone who claims that terrorism has "NOTHING!!" to do with our foreign policy should not be taken seriously. Obviously, Mr. 9iu11ani hasn't read the 9/11 Commission Report.
By the same token, anyone who thinks it is "ONLY!!" our foreign policy that fuels terrorism is being equally naive.
It's both.
here as well. I had a chance to see him speak in my hometown, Chicago, a couple weeks ago. I think his best trait is the sensibility that comes with the experience and effectiveness that he has.
My favorite of the ideas he had is what he referred to as productive and unproductive taxes. He believes those taxes that put the U.S. at the top of the western world are unproductive. He mentioned corporate taxes specifically because we have one of the top corporate tax rates in the country. He mentioned those as taxes he would like to see cut for that reason.
Here is my write up on the entire event.
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor
Barrack [let's give drivers licenses to illegal aliens] Obama,
or
Law-and-order Rudy [lived through horror caused by illegal aliens with drivers licenses] Giuliani?
Its more like they have one of these on their noggin.
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"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777