"Most Voters Want Giuliani to Run for President"
E-fuckin-gads.
Excuse me, but didn't the majority of New Yorkers (at least, everyone I remember talking about him with) hate Rudy Giuliani just about every day he was in office up to and including Sept. 10, 2001?
Taxi drivers couldn't stand him. Remember his drive to try and rid the city of hot dog vendors? Or his ridiculous focus on the character of 42nd Street and 8th Avenue, which has now become Disneyland NY?
In his defense, he did preside at a time which saw quite a lovely drop in New York's crime rate. But at what price? Our roads are in horrible condition, our schools are worse than they perhaps ever were, the city's budget is all over the place...
He only gained favour with most New Yorkers or at all on the national scene, when he played charismatic leader in the face of disaster. And that's the disastrous platform that President Bush is running on, too.
Let me tell you this: it doesn't cut it. To lead, lead for the future. Don't give me this "I was great in a crisis" speech. Give me roads. Give me schools. Give me porn shops on Eighth Avenue and hot dog carts in Central Park. Give me government that does something for me every day, not just when terrorists blow things up.
I'm not trying to discount the enormous committment that Giulani showed to the city in the days and months after 9-11-01. I'm simply trying to say that there's a lot more to being a mayor, and a HELL of a lot more to being a president, than there is to that.
Posted by Jon at September 6, 2004 11:52 AM | TrackBack