Not that I'm a fan of Arafat in any way, shape or form, but did Guiliani actually have a valid legal reason to do that, or was he just abusing the power of his office?
In my opinion he had no right to do so. The mayor does not own the theater, the people do. He acted like a dictator. Further, Arafat was here, as much as I hated it, on the invitation of our President, which means it was the official policy of our government that he be treated as a guest.
I don’t like mayors thinking they can make foreign policy. We cheered this, but what if a mayor kicked the prime minister of Australia out of a public building because the mayor opposed the war? We’d all be up in arms about meddling in national policy.
I felt the same about refusing 10 million in relief money for victims of 9/11. Rudy took an arbitrary action on behalf of people who he gave no voice. Maybe the people of New York would have rejected the money if given the opportunity. But Rudy acted without their input, in disregard of the will of the people, in an arbitrary and capricious manner, without any real authority to do so.
He should have submitted emergency legislation to reject the money, that way the representatives of the people could have spoken for the will of the city.
I want my President to be strong. I don’t want him to take arbitrary actions based on his personal predelictions.