Posted on 04/20/2007 11:39:54 AM PDT by areafiftyone
With former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani consistently leading early polls for the Republican presidential nomination, pundits have spilled an ocean of ink concerning his electability. Having recently sat down with the man, let me tell you why I consider Giuliani a candidate wholly appropriate for our times.
As someone who spends a lot of time thinking and writing about globalization and security, I was brought in recently by the Giuliani campaign to discuss these topics with the mayor. This is standard practice as presidential candidates gear up, and Giuliani's camp is the fourth I've visited in the last year.
I'll make no attempt to describe the mayor's positions on anything we discussed, because that's his job as candidate. Let me instead give you a sense of what it was like to engage him over a couple of hours on my areas of expertise. I've interacted with numerous government, military and corporate leaders over the past couple of decades, so I'm able to draw some comparisons.
First off, Giuliani is a serious and wide-ranging reader, not just a skimmer of "bullets" prepared by his staff. When he reads your stuff, you better remember what you wrote because this guy really absorbs material.
Second, Hizzoner engages you directly versus having his subordinates draw you out. Typically, you brief the senior player only to have staffers toss out most of the follow-on questions. With Giuliani, you lay out your basic argument briefly and then it's off to the races. As an experienced prosecutor, the questions flow quickly and to the point.
Third, the mayor's been around this world. No matter where the conversation wandered, Giuliani had personal contacts or experience or knowledge to draw upon. Better yet, when something came up that he didn't know, the mayor was quick to admit it and toss out questions that drove further exploration.
Fourth, Giuliani likes intellectual debate but doesn't need to dominate. Everyone around the table has the same opportunity to chime in, but don't expect to be asked. So the atmosphere is competitive but open. For a famous egoist, I was surprised to find the mayor doesn't mind being interrupted. With a lot of big names, that's strictly verboten in such venues.
Fifth, the mayor seems unusually focused on how to get things rolling as opposed to where things will ultimately end up. Many senior leaders focus on defining goals to the n-th degree while short-circuiting the how-to-get-there discussion, but Giuliani clearly likes the "how" as much as the "what."
Lastly, as veteran politicians go, when viewed up-close Rudy Giuliani comes off as one happy warrior. He gives off neither the "angry outsider" nor the "appointed by fate" vibe. Instead, he seems genuinely thrilled at the prospect of tackling a lot of tough issues on a scale even grander than those found in New York City.
The man will never sport a tan, but he's definitely relaxed and ready.
One reason why the current race seems so wide open is that _ in historical terms _ sitting senators have a very hard time getting elected. Typically, Americans choose their chief executives from the ranks of governors and wartime heroes, two life experiences that naturally display desired leadership characteristics.
In this age of globalization and our long war against radical extremism, Mayor Giuliani is unusually credentialed to serve as president.
Thomas P.M. Barnett is a visiting scholar at the University of Tennessee's Howard Baker Center and the senior managing director of Enterra Solutions LLC. Contact him at tom(at)thomaspmbarnett.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com.
I’m sorry to hear that. I hate to see longtime posters go over this — I think the debate is a necessary part of the primaries. However, I also respect that this is JimRob’s site and he has every right to decide what he wants FR to be.
The problem with that is that I don't want my nation to go where Rudytootsie want to lead it. Two of his ideas for leading America can be seen HERE and HERE
“The man will never sport a tan, but he’s definitely relaxed and ready.”
Yeah, Rudy is ready to:
Grab your gun
Abort your baby
Promote illegal immigration
Promote homos
Hillary must be smiling.
What a freeping shame.
Setting aside the pro-haters and non-haters for Rudy Guiliani, think about what he could do in a debate against Hillary?
One of the reasons I could support him. He’s tough enough to stand up to the Clinton smear machine.
A liberal's code words for conservatives and our conservative principles and moral standards.
In the liberal authoritarian mind the individual's liberties and Constitutional rights are nothing more than radically extreme notions that would undo their leftist pipedream if they were ever put into practice. Liberals like the writer would accuse men such as Patrick Henry, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson of advocating "radical extremism" if they were still around.
I'm older than most FR posters and I still remember hearing these sentences of Goldwater's acceptance speech at the '64 GOP convention:
"I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."
For simply speaking those words Goldwater was branded a mean, hateful Hitler clone by the hysterical MSM of that Kennedy-worshiping era. Since then most of the '60s liberals' "if it feels good do it" pipedream has come into being, and by any reasonable standard of decency and liberty the USA is much the worse for it. If God forbid the GOP nominates Giuliani, either he or the Democrat nominee will of course be our next president. In either case that will be the final straw that breaks the old Republic's back if it comes to that.
“Grab your gun ... abort your baby ...”
Oh, for Christ’s sake. Can’t we discuss the man on a somewhat higher level than this?
We all know the raps against Rudy. Let’s talk about whether they outweigh his good points. Maybe they do. But the cheap name-calling isn’t helping anyone, including Rudy’s determined enemies on FReep.
“To: stephenjohnbanker
“Grab your gun ... abort your baby ...”
Oh, for Christ’s sake. Can’t we discuss the man on a somewhat higher level than this?
We all know the raps against Rudy. Let’s talk about whether they outweigh his good points. Maybe they do. But the cheap name-calling isn’t helping anyone, including Rudy’s determined enemies on FReep.”
Rudy has no good points, and you are a fool!
“One of the reasons I could support him. He’s tough enough to stand up to the Clinton smear machine.”
And nobody else IS?
Yes. Mia was called an abortionist troll by management here and banned. We all know that label is asinine but it reflects more on management’s ability to discern the enemy than on Mia.
Could you post a single example of where Clinton's smear machine attacked Rudy and he "stood up" to it? Last time she started raising questions about his personal history, he quit so I don't know if there are any examples of him standing up.
Great post. Thanks.
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