Giuliani’s 3rd Divorce, Rudy and 9/11 Split
If a Rudy Giuliani sentence actually requires a noun, a verb, and 9/11, then Rudy was not making much sense. But the fact of the matter was: Rudy did make sense. Giuliani made mention of 9/11 only once on November 5th at Saint Anselm College’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics. The former New York Mayor, having seemingly dropped 9/11 from his vernacular, is starting to sound a lot more viable as a candidate for President.
Accompanied by his wife and about one hundred and fifty to two hundred NH residents, Rudy focused on his experience running New York City. After establishing his credentials, he then made connections as to how his experience as Mayor would translate into a brighter America, morning again. The speech was substantive and striking.
Though I do not believe Rudy has the best ideas, it was refreshing to actually hear a candidate respond to a question for ten minutes without trivializing the debate into some emotional buzzword. Of course, buzzwords did fly, but Rudy convincingly addressed issues and talked about the ridiculousness of answering questions with rhetoric in thirty seconds. Interestingly though, when Rudy started talking about his “greatest influence” in New York being an increase in “hope,” I could not help question whether this was Giuliani or Obama speaking? Rudy noticeably contrasted Barack and Hillary, making the case for Obama, and against Clinton, all throughout his speech. Perhaps Rudy is trying to create some unrest in the Democratic race?
Either way, Rudy’s circumstantiality of discussion on immigration and healthcare was actually a breath of fresh air. Not as refreshing, however, were Giuliani’s positions. To revive healthcare in this country, Rudy recommends an open market system. I’m not really sure if he is aware of America’s current healthcare system or not, but what he was proposing did not seem too far off from the status quo. In addressing immigration, Giuliani was able to acknowledge the unfeasibility of expelling all illegal immigrants. He recognizes the extraordinary economic and legal burden that expatriating 12 million people would cause. But Rudy also takes a hard-nosed view on not allowing any more aliens to cross the border. He had some innovative, albeit expensive, ideas to prevent illegal immigration. Rudy proposes heat tracking equipment and border patrol stations no further away than 50 miles from each other, that way they are never further than 25 miles from a potential border jumper.
In the Q & A portion of the event, Rudy thoroughly explained his positions on issues ranging from the legalization of marijuana to Mike Huckabee as Vice-President. On the Huckabee for VP issue, Giuliani certainly has an affinity to the former Arkansas governor from Hope (not that former Arkansas governor from Hope).
Talking about foreign relations and nuclear proliferation, Giuliani ended his speech by communicating his belief in the importance of experience and realism. It was the focus of those two principles that made Rudy’s speech so valuable. While his policies may be questionable, and he may be hypocritical for denouncing and embracing buzzwords, I can respect Rudy Giuliani for genuinely communicating his ideas and not obfuscating issues to confuse people into voting for him.