Giuliani for President - Leadership Inspires Early Endorsement.

National Review ^ | 2/15/07 | Andrew C. McCarthy

[areafiftyone]

It is the greatness of the United States that daunting challenges inevitably summon to the fore leaders with the steel to rise to the occasion and the grasp to raise us up with them. Leaders whose confidence and command cut through the noise and the naysayers. Leaders who stir us not only to the urgency of action but to the achievability of victory through America’s exceptional gifts.

Rudy Giuliani is such a leader. In our perilous times, his is the unique combination of vision, guts, and perseverance that we need in the Oval Office. That’s why I hope we have the good sense to make him the next president of the United States.

The 2008 election is still 21 months away, and one recoils from the prospect of so long a contest. Still, last week’s announcement that Mayor Giuliani is seeking the presidency was welcome. Our government is adrift. Vigor and course correction will have to come from outside — from a presidential campaign’s demand that we open our eyes and choose sides.

Though our nation is profoundly threatened, never before has our security been so cavalierly politicized. The new Democrat-controlled Congress does not merely oppose fighting a war it would be disastrous to lose. Without the courage of its stated conviction that America’s mission in Iraq must end, it lacks the gumption to match its anti-war rhetoric with meaningful action. As Rome burns, our heroes are Neros, fiddling with oxymoronic “non-binding resolutions.”

No, Congress doesn’t dare de-fund the mission. So this craven display of “resolve” accomplishes only three things: It tells our troops in harm’s way that the people’s representatives think their sacrifice is pointless; it informs the Iraqis being pressed to make hard choices that Americans may not be around to back those choices; and it reveals to our firmly committed enemies that we neither understand the stakes nor have the stomach to fight for them.

Meanwhile, the once-shining clarity of the Bush Doctrine has dimmed. The great calling of our age, President Bush declared while smoke billowed from 9/11’s wreckage, was to defeat jihadists and quell the rogues who might abet them. He couldn’t have been more right. Five weary years later, though, the administration seems at times to be running on empty. The answer to our great calling has tapered to stabilizing Baghdad — while we abide Russia and China’s enabling of Iran, promote Fatah terrorists in their standoff with Hamas terrorists, and indulge Kim Jong-il’s remaking of the same dozen-year old promises whose flouting has graduated North Korea from extortionist to nuclear extortionist.

It’s hard to blame the president. He’s got to fight for every inch now. He is trying to move forward by meeting his critics halfway — decency they meet with bile. But he is in this fix because his administration has failed to rally the American people to the cause, to make them own it, rather than delegate it to 150,000 of our best and bravest while the rest of us go shopping. The Left has gleefully filled that void. With the help of its media allies, it daily saps the national will to stay on guard and take the fight to those determined to kill us.

I don’t think a President Giuliani would let them get away with it.

As a young prosecutor in the 1980s, I was privileged to work for him when he was the United States Attorney in New York City. By the sheer force of his intellect, his energy and his ability to inspire, he accomplished things that others before him had dared not try — like vanquishing the long entrenched mafia, which has been an epigone ever since his onslaught.

But Giuliani’s greatest asset may have been his unique understanding that success in any great endeavor hinges on the capacity to explain, relentlessly, what you are doing and why. With that, the public can understand and support you, the bad actors are under no illusions about your commitment, and those on the fence are apt to think better about choosing the wrong side. It is a Reaganesque gift.

Mayor Giuliani grasps the global nature of the jihadist challenge. He has demonstrated in spades — especially by his leadership in a New York City ravaged by the enemy on 9/11 — that he has the fortitude and constancy that will be required for victory. But just as much, he gets both the advantages and the obligations of the bully pulpit. He will make the case, cogently and compellingly, day in and day out: Why we are fighting and why it is vital to win.

This was on display last Monday in New York, when he told Sean Hannity that, as Iraq-centric as we’ve become, the war is still about a lot more than the Battle of Baghdad — whether we choose to see it or not:

[H]ere's the reality of it: We're at war. And we're at war because they're at war with us…. [W]hen you listen to these debates in Congress, and you listen to the politicians debating, you sort of get the impression that they think we're in control of whether we're at war or not. It doesn't matter what we think. They're at war with us. They want to come here and kill us. And they did on September 11, and they did a long time before September 11. Way back in 1993, they came to this city and killed people.

So we've got to put Iraq in the context of a much broader picture than just Iraq. And getting Iraq correctly, in other words, getting stability there is real important. And I support what the president asked for support to do [in surging combat troops] and what General Petraeus has asked for support to do, not because there's any guarantee it's going to work. There's never any guarantee at war. But if we can come out with a correct solution or a better solution in Iraq, it's going to make the whole War on Terror go better. We got to get beyond it. We've got to get beyond Iraq….

Right in the aftermath of [an attack like 9/11], there's tremendous unity. We understand that we have to be on offense against terrorists, that we have to make it bipartisan, that it isn't about being a Democrat or a Republican. It's about being an American. Now you get further away, and that lesson isn't as vivid. And all wars have that happen. This is a difficult thing to do, but we've got to start getting beyond Iraq.

We've got to be thinking about Iran. We have to think about Syria. We have to be thinking about Pakistan and Afghanistan and making sure that the transition in Afghanistan goes correctly. We have to be ready for the fact that, whatever happens in Iraq, success or failure — success will help us in the War on Terror. Failure will hurt us. But the war is still going to go on. They're still going to want to come here and kill us.

Some conservatives worry about Giuliani’s positions on certain social issues, especially abortion. But his positions have not signaled conventional liberalism. He has governed as a limited-government conservative — a species Republicans would do well to rediscover. More to the point, he doesn’t pine for the courts to impose that which the public rejects. To the contrary, he vows to appoint justices who will stick to the individual rights we already have rather than invent new ones as they go along. Who will adjudicate rather than legislate. Who will be our umpires, not our rulers. No president can do more than that to promote conservative outcomes. Conservatism is where the public is. We win a fair fight, a democratic fight, and he is committed to giving us that.

No fight, however, matters as much as the one for our survival. No one will fight that fight better or smarter or more zealously than Rudy Giuliani. That’s why we need him.

— Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).

[JulieRNR21]

Some conservatives worry about Giuliani’s positions on certain social issues, especially abortion. But his positions have not signaled conventional liberalism. He has governed as a limited-government conservative — a species Republicans would do well to rediscover. More to the point, he doesn’t pine for the courts to impose that which the public rejects. To the contrary, he vows to appoint justices who will stick to the individual rights we already have rather than invent new ones as they go along. Who will adjudicate rather than legislate. Who will be our umpires, not our rulers. No president can do more than that to promote conservative outcomes. Conservatism is where the public is. We win a fair fight, a democratic fight, and he is committed to giving us that.

No fight, however, matters as much as the one for our survival. No one will fight that fight better or smarter or more zealously than Rudy Giuliani. That’s why we need him.

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I concur with the writer......BUMP

All the other issues will not matter IF we lose the WOT due to Hillary & a return to the policies of her co-presidency in the 90s.

[SJSAMPLE]

"stick to their guns"

LOL.
I GET IT!!!

Rudy is undeniably a gun-grabber and you want them to "stick to their guns".

Outstanding, Sir!

[Ciexyz]

Rudy bump.

[jonrick46]

Don't worry that Rudy seems to tilt left. This is just Political Science 101. He has to play the center which has a mixed bag of stuff that components of the 60s generation in it. As long as the media and the government schools feeds their minds of mush the socialist pap, we have an uphill struggle to counter it. Rudy knows this. He knows the task to reeducate the public would be a time consuming job. There is so little time to raise money for a campaign war chest that Hillary already has a head start building. Those who will give the big monies will first ask, "can he win?" Anyone who has been able to win the New York City mayorship in media entrenched New York can win.

We need to be patient. Rudy will put forth a strategy that we can buy into.

[Hydroshock]

I have looked at his history. He has and is nothing I want.

[onyx]

In the general election, I will be voting for the GOP nominee. Defeating Hillary is my number one aim.

[hosepipe]

[.. Rudy Giuliani is such a leader. In our perilous times, his is the unique combination of vision, guts, and perseverance that we need in the Oval Office. That’s why I hope we have the good sense to make him the next president of the United States. ..]

Giuliani and Jimmah Carter have many many issues in common these days..
Also with Ted Kennedy, Bwany Fwank, and Jean Kerry..
Not to speak of Jane Fonda and Barbara Striesand.. Oh! and Rosie O'Donut..

[Seaplaner]

Yes, Rudy may be alittle bit of a compromise but in reality, everytime you vote it’s a compromise. Nobody is ever going to find a candidate or a President they agree with 100% of the time, even Ronald Reagan. Reagan gave amnesty to illegal immigrants in 1986 and I’m sure the vast majority of Freepers disagree with that. Reagan even appointed O’Connor to the Supreme Court. Nobody is perfect...

GOP - - You have captured and distilled a major issue quite nicely!

I will enthusiastically support whomever gets the GOP nod, be it Rudy, Mitt, or Newt (John Sidney McCain, you have no chance of the GOP nomination). None will represent my feelings exactly, but compared with the alternative...

BTW, Hillary Rodham as (gulp) president would waste little time removing all sources of political dissent (Rush, Hugh, Medved, Free Republic, you name it.)

.

[areafiftyone]

LOL! that is one of my favorite smiley's!

[areafiftyone]

Okay okay I'll never say the word gun again never never never never never never! ;-)

[Jane Austen]

Not too much difference. They all are for gun control, open borders that include amnesty, weak on national security, and anti traditional marriage, and they possess questionable moral character.

[jonrick46]

"I have looked at his history. He has and is nothing I want."

The reality is that Rudy has accomplished huge changes in New York City, a mecca of flaming liberals. When you exist in such a political environment, you have to have a practical understanding of your political realities. You may believe that the death penalty is good, for instance, but to voice such thinking would ask for a good thumping from the media whores that thrive in New York City. If you are to survive long enough to accomplish the things that are do-able, you need to keep those who may want to kill you thinking that you are their friend. Such is a valuable skill that Rudy knows well and one that will give him a win in 2008.

If you are wondering where is his conservative message for you, be patient. He is now in fund raising mode. That is the most important part for winning in 2008.

Send Rudy a $100 check.

[Hydroshock]

I alread sent Duncan Hunter a $100 check this month. I can ot support Rino Rudy. I don't support liberals.

[Right_in_Virginia]

I think it's so counterproductive to endorse any candidate at this point in time.

Why bother with primaries?

[Huck]

Did you see this, in today's Best of the Web? (james tarranto of wsj)


In fairness to our friends in Congress, what Giuliani is describing here is partly just the nature of the institution. A body made up of 535 people can't possibly be "decisive" in the way that one man can. Even if every member of Congress were as decisive as Giuliani, they would still have to compromise in order to get anything done.

But the character of the institution does reflect itself in the character of the individuals in it, either because they learn to adjust or because the most successful lawmakers are those who master the art of compromise.

Being president calls for a different set of skills and strengths than being in Congress, and this may be why America has elected only three sitting congressmen as president (Rep. James Garfield and Sens. Warren Harding and John F. Kennedy). It's also why we're skeptical of all the senators seeking the White House this time around, and why in our estimation Giuliani has the best shot at being the next president.