Decision ‘08

Is Rudy A Conservative?

…[T]oday ex–New York mayor Rudy Giuliani sits at or near the top of virtually every poll of potential 2008 presidential candidates. Already, Giuliani’s popularity has set off a “stop Rudy” movement among cultural conservatives, who object to his three marriages and his support for abortion rights, gay unions, and curbs on gun ownership. Some social conservatives even dismiss his achievement in reviving New York before 9/11. An August story on the website Right Wing News, for instance, claims that Giuliani governed Gotham from “left of center.” Similarly, conservatives have been feeding the press a misleading collection of quotations by and about Giuliani, on tax policy and school choice issues, assembled to make him look like a liberal.

But in a GOP presidential field in which cultural and religious conservatives may find something to object to in every candidate who could really get nominated (and, more important, elected), Giuliani may be the most conservative candidate on a wide range of issues. Far from being a liberal, he ran New York with a conservative’s priorities: government exists above all to keep people safe in their homes and in the streets, he said, not to redistribute income, run a welfare state, or perform social engineering. The private economy, not government, creates opportunity, he argued; government should just deliver basic services well and then get out of the private sector’s way. He denied that cities and their citizens were victims of vast forces outside their control, and he urged New Yorkers to take personal responsibility for their lives. “Over the last century, millions of people from all over the world have come to New York City,” Giuliani once observed. “They didn’t come here to be taken care of and to be dependent on city government. They came here for the freedom to take care of themselves.” It was that spirit of opportunity and can-do-ism that Giuliani tried to re-instill in New York and that he himself exemplified not only in the hours and weeks after 9/11 but in his heroic and successful effort to bring a dying city back to life.

What follows is a comprehensive rundown of the conservative case for Rudy; I recommend it to all: if you are for Giuliani, you’ll delight in the recap, and if you’re against, you might even change your mind.

Rudy Giuliani may or may not get the nod, but I am more and more convinced that he is the best chance for Republicans to retain the presidency in 2008. Like Barack Obama, he is a candidate that can excite people and appeal to many cross-sections of America.

But Rudy, Rudy, Rudy - you gotta declare soon!…

3 Responses to “Is Rudy A Conservative?”

1 Dennis Says:
January 25th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Excellent essay. The longer version is Fred Siegel’s book The Prince of the City, which gave a great overview of the environment Giuliani faced coming into office, and what he accomplished. His doggedness against entrenched interests is probably the biggest reason why I’m eager to see him run for president.

The man certainly isn’t perfect; he’s got a history of showy ego displays, which I can only hope have been quieted by his experience of the aftermath of Sept. 11, but usually a leopard doesn’t change his spots. But I’ll take some self-absorption if it goes along with his tenacity.

I suspect gay marriage won’t be the issue people think it is, because I think it’s more of a headline issue than something most people really get upset about. My guess is he’ll probably survive the gun rights issue by more or less ignoring it, which is what Democrats have done. The end result would be no new gun laws.

Abortion is far trickier, and if anything trips him up, it’s this. I’d like to think that most people will be content with his promise to appoint justices like Roberts and Alito, but I don’t know. I’m admittedly in the mushy middle on the topic, myself.

But ultimately, politicians write their own stories, so Giuliani doesn’t have to be prisoner to discussing God, gays and guns. Giuliani’s got a great story to tell with what he did with New York. Since we’ve got a country that seems down on all politicians right now, I think a man who comes in with a real pedigree at taking on entrenched bureaucrats and a permanent political class will strike a strong chord with the public.

And from a practical point of view, if the Republicans nominate a guy who has a real shot at taking places like New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, any Democractic nominee will be in a real fix.
2 Aaron Says:
January 25th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
As far as SCOTUS appointments, it depends, for a large part, on who is in control of the Senate and by what margin. Unless the GOP picks up more seats in 2008, not even Sam Brownback or Newt Gingrich could get another Roberts or Alito through. And if the GOP has a majority in the Senate, they could probably get Rudy to appoint a conservative justice as they did with Bush over Miers.
3 Dennis Says:
January 25th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Excellent point, Aaron. There’s been some speculation that now that the Democrats have the Senate, Justice Stevens might retire. If so, I suspect whomever President Bush nominates the first time around will get Borked, just as a muscle-flexing exercise.