Posted on 03/06/2007 11:05:27 AM PST by areafiftyone
Rudy Giuliani might have been an inspiration in the days after 9/11, but what relevance does that have now? He might have cleaned up New York City, but why should most Americans care whether, say, Bryant Park is a drug-dealer-infested nightmare or a pleasant place for office workers on a lunch break? The power of Giuliani’s presidential candidacy is in neither of these things per se, but in the allure of executive prowess. A leaked strategy memo from the campaign of Mitt Romney said that the former Massachusetts governor could contrast himself with President Bush with one word, “intelligence.” That is unfair to Bush, who is not an unintelligent man. But the memo was correct in noting how Republican candidates for president will have to contrast their styles and skills with those of Bush. Republicans don’t need more sheer IQ in their next nominee, but more EI — not emotional intelligence, as the popular book had it, but executive intelligence. But troubled organizations often look to hire an executive who has succeeded elsewhere. Hence the allure of Rudy Giuliani.
Giuliani demonstrated it in New York. He ran the fourth-largest government in the country, from an office that had awesome powers (unlike the governorship of Texas), at a time when the city was in crisis, without a strong party to back him and in the teeth of a hostile press. And he succeeded. That, in a few phrases, is the appeal of Rudy Giuliani.
Fred Siegel describes him in his book Prince of the City as having “a mathematical and military cast of mind,” and quotes a former aide who explains that Giuliani is such a baseball fan because the game brings “together three things that he loves: statistics, teamwork and individual effort.” Siegel compares Rudy’s fascination with the intricacies of government to that of Bill Clinton, who had the same interest in details although without the decisiveness, and the late Sen. Daniel Pat Moynihan, who grasped how government worked but never was an executive.
Giuliani needed little sleep, which made extra hours available to him that he could pour into work. He had talented people around him whom he forged into an instrument of his executive will. Giuliani had daily 8 A.M. meetings to ensure that his deputies and commissioners were on the same page. As a former aide told Siegel, “You could draw a clear line on an organization chart for almost everything the Rudy administration did.”
Giuliani’s axioms of governance, described in his book “Leadership,” now read as a kind of rebuttal to Bush’s hands-off management style. One of his rules is “Always Sweat the Small Stuff.” Another is “Prepare Relentlessly.” He delivered annual 90-minute State of the City addresses without a prepared text: “I presented it from my own head and heart, not from a page.” And “Everyone’s Accountable, All of the Time.” Giuliani kept a two-word sign on his desk: “I’M RESPONSIBLE.”
Famously the first CEO president, Bush has had his reputation as an executive trashed by Katrina and Iraq. Bush had seen his role primarily as setting goals, then remaining resolute and confident about them. But the resolution and confidence are self-defeating if the goals aren’t matched with the appropriate means. Bush has been ill-served by his willingness to stand by failed subordinates (thereby eroding any sense of accountability), by his relative lack of interest in details and by his inability to establish coherence within his own government.
This makes the Competence Primary very important in the Republican nomination contest, and Giuliani is the front-runner in it, although he has competition from Romney, a successful businessman with strong management skills. This doesn’t mean that Giuliani will excel in the Temperament Primary. Some of the qualities that made him a successful mayor — the hunger for power, the jealousy of other centers of authority, the egocentric drive — don’t make him the most pleasant person. And the Ideological Primary will be a major challenge.
(((((RUDY PING)))))
"Giuliani is the front-runner in it, although he has competition from Romney, a successful businessman with strong management skills."
Romney flip-flopped on the #1 issue with social conservatives. He's toast.
That picture was from a Saturday night live skit!
I know. It's still frightening! ;o)
They say that only a manly man will dress in drag [unless he's a drag queen, that is!]
Well he does make for an ugly woman! LOL!
how many times has this guy dressed up in drag?
There's him with trump
him with julie andrews
him dressed up as a rockette
There's him with trump (Saturday Night Live)
him with julie andrews (Charity Event)
him dressed up as a rockette (Charity Event)
You seem to believe that NYC is some sort of good example, of something, damned if I know what it is! I'm just thankful I never have to go there again!
GLAD NOT TO HAVE YOU HERE!
We'll be happier if you keep rudy there instead of foisting your brand of liberal republicanism on the rest of America.
New York was once the epicenter of Presidential aspirants (RFK, Rockefeller, Dewey, Roosevelt, Smith, Roosevelt, Cleveland, etc.) but has been dormant since 1968. The NYC based media is now drooling buckets at the thought of both parties nominating New York politicians in the same year.
That's okay at least you get it about poking fun at themselves.
Nobody is forcing Rudy on the rest of America - America seems to want Rudy but you guys have blinders on.
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