Crain's New York Business (NYB) claims Rudy Giuliani is not fit to be the nation's next president.   The online magazine conducted a poll which found he doesn;t have the "right temperament to be an effective president."   NYB's Alair Townsend wrote in the publication that Giuliani’s strong personality would not translate well when it comes to dealing with Congress and world leaders.   NYB then conducted a poll to see if readers agree.   70% did.   One poll respondent wrote, "If there's one thing we should have learned from the current administration, it's the tragic risks we face when our leaders fail to listen to divergent views.   For the sake of the nation, we need to get as far from 'my way or the highway' thinking ... as possible."   But let's be honest.   Most of the readers of NYB are New York business people.   New Yorkers of whatever ilk are mostly liberals.   New York business people are mostly Democrat-party-supporting, wealthy liberals - so called limousine liberals.   Should it be a shock that 70% of limousine liberals want to bring down Rudy any way they can?

Right now the liberals are having their own problems.   This election started way too early as it is.   And there is an overly competitive race for the Democrat party's nomination.   Hillary could win.   So could Obama and Edwards.   Maybe Richardson has a shot too?   The race between the three leaders is a bit too close right now.   they are competing with each other for money and that puts a drain on a party which typically runs behind its opponent in fundraising.   The three candidates are working hard to define themselves as fundamentally different from each other.   This is the type of thing which causes platform confusion.   And many hard feelings have already been raised between those who are opposed to this candidate or that and those who actually go to work for or advocate one of the candidates over the other two.   So you've got a financial drain as well as an ideological one.

Contrast this hotly contested Democrat primary race for presidential nomination with the slowly developing Republican one.   A few people have had their names mentioned.   Mostly they have been disqualified by one thing or another.   It's probably boiling down to a Romney - Rudy race.   McCain most likely doesn't have a realistic shot since he would be in his mid seventies before taking office.   Also, as he has tried to appeal to so-called moderates, he has alienated himself somewhat from the base.   You need the base to win primaries and to obtain funding.   McCain is probably out of this race before it begins.   Rudy has baggage with respect to his socially liberal positions.   Romney has avoided that by making himself into a "pro-lifer."   But Romney has other problems.

For one thing Romney lost in a race against ted Kennedy for Senate.   Of course he did, you're probably thinking.   Nobody could beat Kennedy or any other liberal in Taxachussets.   Maybe that's true but consider that if Rudy didn't develop prostate cancer and drop out of the race when he was running for the Senate, he most likely would have beaten Hillary, perhaps badly.   Rudy may have beaten Hillary badly because he is immensely popular in New York.   Rudy is so popular in New York that if the race boils down to Rudy vs. Hillary (or anyone else), Rudy will probably deliver New York to the Republican party.   And New York's about as liberal as San Francisco!

The media would like us to believe that Rudy was popular AFTER September 11.   That's true but Rudy was immensely popular BEFORE September 11.   I've mentioned some things he did which led to his popularity - I don't want to go over them again.   Rudy was so popular in liberal NYC that nobody could even muster a reasonable race against him.   Consider that Rudy was so popular that he set the stage for a Republican to again win the once exclusively Democrat position.   Giuliani cleaned the clocks of the Democrat party in Democrat New York numerous times.   We won every demographic most of the time as well.   Men voted for him; women voted for him; blacks and hispanics voted for him; and a majority of liberals voted for him!   Heck, I wouldn't have been surprised to hear the wife of his opponents voted for him!   he was that popular.

Giuliani is known to be a formidable executive.   He is not known for a "my way or the highway" way of thinking.   He'd be the first to tell you that almost none of what he has implemented are his own ideas per se.   He has philosophical positions on what works.   But he is an effective executive.   Effective executives in the real world learn to listen to others.   They draw and surround themselves with the best people available.   Perhaps Bush didn't do that but neither did Clinton.   Reagan had some good people around him but he also had some who were not quite up to the job.   Unfortunately, towards the end, his faculties may not have been what they were years earlier - that's why McCain cannot win at the age of 72.   Giuliani wouldn't be that old until the end of a second term!   Carter didn't have good people around him and even if he did, he probably wouldn't have listened to them.   He was apparently incapable of delegation and he was not used to really listening to advisors.   Giuliani actively seeks out advice and listens to his experts.   He is not a "my way or the highway" kind of guy.   He's just tough once a course of action has been determined.

Americans have almost always understood that what is needed in the Oval Office is an executive, not a negotiator, not a philosopher, not a debater.   Right now the front runners on the Democrat side are all Senators and an ex-Senator.   They're debaters and negotiators.   They aren't executives.   If Americans choose to elect a non-executive to an executive position, they'll pay the price.   The media and liberals, especially limousine liberals understand this and that's why they are running scared.   That's why they have to pick at Giuliani at every possible turn.   But these latest efforts to paint him as parochial most likely will fail as soon as the man opens his mouth.   You see, that's the biggest problem Democrats face right now.   They know that once Giuliani opens his mouth, he will win the election.   They need to beat him now, before he gets out of the gates.

Labels: Rudy Giuliani