I know this blog is committed primarily to the importance of
negative political campaigning and
how it will effect this year’s presidential campaign. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t have
one entry here about the candidate who was not only my personal favorite
entering 2008, but was also leading in the polls throughout 2007; Rudy
Giuliani.
The worst-run presidential campaign in the history of
American politics? Conventional wisdom
says the answer to this question will be Hillary Clinton if she loses this year
to Barak Obama. Considering all that
dough she raised, to have not had the brains to spend whatever was necessary in
the caucus states to get [or pay off] bodies to show up on her behalf was
indeed stupidity personified and arrogance of the highest order.
But even if she loses, hers won’t be the worst-run
presidential campaign in history; that honor will go to the 2008 presidential
candidate who would have made by far the best
president of all the 2008 candidates running; former New York Mayor Rudy
Giulianai.
What in the world was his campaign thinking? Not campaigning in New Hampshire, a natural state for him? With
all those independent voters and even Democrats who would have found him
attractive? His absence in Hew Hampshire
left the field open to McCain by default, since McCain, like Giuliani, attracts
those same Independents and Democrats, not to mention many Republicans.
But McCain did not have Giuliani’s star power. And despite his very presidential-quality
resume, McCain didn’t have Giuliani’s incredible record of achievement
either.
Not only did Giuliani single-handedly take New York City
from the dump it was before he became mayor (if you don’t remember what the city was like pre-Giuliani, just watch
10 minutes of The French Connection or
Death Wish to clearly see the
graffiti-strewn piece of garbage that New York city one was); there was also
Giuliani’s record as a federal prosecutor, where was a latter-day Elliot
Ness. Not only did Giuliani cripple the
Mafia in new York City, but also broke the insider trading scandal [Michael
Milken, Ivan Boesky, and company] that had it not been stopped would have led
to a crash worse than 1929. Not to
mention putting away all those corrupt politicians, one of whom, former Queens borough President Donald Manes chose suicide [not
once but twice] rather than having to face Giuliani in court
Can you believe the arrogance of Giuliani and his campaign
believing he could simply sit it out until Florida?
Smugly believing that the rest of the GOP field would knock the shit out
of each other so he could simply ride into Florida on his white horse to rescue the
Republican Party?
I still can’t believe it.
No presidential candidate had excited me this much since Ronald Reagan
in 1980. So instead we have McCain by
default. Very reminiscent of Dole
1996. The guy with the experience, the
guy whose turn it was after having lost his previous try. But unfortunately it could also be (like Dole) the guy with no vision, with no
passion.
This far the only candidate with any real sense of vision
appears to be Barack Obama [I can’t believe I’ve said it; actually saying
something nice about a Democrat?]
