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Giuliani Logic: Personality over Economy, Career over Family

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After he spent 50 million to get one electoral vote on a platform of catering to military-industrial contractors, justified by panicking Americans who say they just want simple economic stability, Rudy has been reduced to a political hitman, going for the jugular (again) using unfounded smears.

But how sordid are his own "family values"? Rudy's is perhaps the archetypal story of a father putting a political career ahead of his home relationships. Few made much of it when he was running, but Rudy has been a ruthless character assassination enforcer in the last two cycles, using highly concocted spin to divide voters on debatable personality issues.

Trying to introduce doubt in voters' minds without factual back-up is snakey enough, but if we remember Rudy as the guy who tried to convince us that George W. Bush was on the right track in 2004, history tells us otherwise. Oh, and he milked 9-11 for all it was worth, politically and monetarily, earning huge sums in "security" related consulting.

Perhaps today we can say Giuliani's daughter supporting Obama for president is fair game within the national discussion of a particular politician's overly-demanding career causing turmoil in the lives of their own children.

Sarah Palin's acceptance of the VP slot means she has some plan for dividing her time between the newborns around the house and her older kids. Maybe the whole family is on board for the reality-show life. As a dad, I wouldn't do the same until my kids were much older, perhaps even older then Obama's girls but certainly not if I was facing the learning curve that new parents of special needs babies face. 

Weighing our families and careers, it's also true the dire necessity in Washington calls for someone to do something and Obama has been uniquely poised for the job since his 2004 speech. I don't doubt Palin believes fighting liberalism or rolling back Roe v. Wade is just as urgent to her, but on the whole, I doubt she has done her homework when she plainly ignores the #1 issue important to voters. The more I read about her public record, the more I question McCain's one-visit acquaintance and super-huge "female" gambit, sniffing after Hillary Clinton's feminine voters in key swing districts.

I appreciate Obama's convention presentation put average citizens with typical stories up in front of 40 million viewers. I appreciate that he focused on the #1 issue affecting voters, reaching out to young U.S. citizens with the most critical stake in balancing the budget, reducing the deficit, developing more energy sources, conservation, rest and retooling of our military and restoring our name in the world from Abu-Ghamerica back to America.

Despite their faults, Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and lingering policies of George H.W. Bush gave us the Earned Income tax credit which, along with defense cuts, turned our economy around sharply. I remember better years for myself, I imagine you do too, with a simple redistribution of the tax advantages handed out by our government. Obama's current economic proposal is just as simple and direct.

When Rudy Giuliani was running for reelection as mayor, I found myself at an unrelated fundraiser for the private school Rudy's daughter attended. All I can remember is Rudy entering with his security detail, clomping up to the stage in his lifts, speaking for under two minutes and clomping out, as if the school community were to be thankful he took time out of his campaign to make a cameo. By contrast, comedian Dan Aykroyd, whose twin daughters also attended the school, rolled up his sleeves and spent over 1 hour conducting the school auction and entertaining the crowd.

If you can't catch your kid performing in the big school play, at least winning reelection handily is a consolation. But as we all grapple with balancing family with work, waking up one day with distant or wayward teen children is the ultimate wake up call that all the money, ambition and career success in the world can't give you back time lost with your loved ones. 

Let's pivot political discussion today to the largest issues facing us - who will provide more tax relief to more people? Who will be better positioned to clean up runaway borrowing for a "dumb war" (Obama's words) started because of "improperly interpreted" intelligence? Which platform will actually be better for the long-term, sustained solvency of the economy?

Rudy, if you must focus on a narrow, distractive set of personal attacks to try to re-earn some worth to the RNC, be sure your own personal story reads better then the people you attack.

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(OpEdNews Contributing Editor since October 2006) Inner city schoolteacher from New York, mostly covering media manipulation. I put election/finance reform ahead of all issues but also advocate for fiscal conservatism, ethics in journalism and (more...)
 

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