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One of my favorite anecdotes of the Giuliani years is his handling of the ferret issue. As you may remember, Giuliani, high-handedly, and for no good reason, banned the possession of ferrets as pets. Why ever? Cynics might imagine he hoped to piss off the left-wing, south-of-Bleecker hipster demographic. If so, it worked, and soon after Giuliani found himself on talk radio, defending his decree against an irate ferret-owner. Rudy’s response merits quoting in full: “There is something deranged about you. I know you feel insulted by that, but I am being honest with you. This excessive concern with little weasels is a sickness.”
That’s right, a sitting mayor, on the record, calling a constituent a deluded loon. You don’t see that too often in American politics. That striking anecdote was included in an excellent survey of Giuliani’s tenure by Michael Grunwald, entitled, appropriately “Cruel to be Kind.”
As this anecdote suggests, there was a lot not to like about Giuliani: He was autocratic, vain, abrupt, and unlikable. In the Rudy hagiography after September 11, it’s hard to remember just how disliked he was, and how maniacal some of his causes appeared (the banning of pushcarts, for example). I mean honestly, why ban ferrets? It’s just inflammatory and idiotic.
But then, this is also the man who, basically single-handedly, demonstrated that New York could be governed. If you read David Letterman top ten lists from the 80s, you’ll see that New York serves as a punch line, a shorthand for blight, decay, vulgarity and crime. No more. That’s what Giuliani wrought, and as Grunwald notes, it wasn’t by being nice. Indeed, Grunwald argues that it was precisely Rudy’s vices – stubbornness, vindictiveness, lack of empathy -- that enabled this miraculous transformation.
Why do I mention this? It’s a minor aside of yours, Doug, that you are not sure you support an invasion of Iraq, absent an overhaul of the entire Bush foreign policy. Well, I tend to agree with you: Bush people display boundless arrogance, and needlessly insult allies. I can’t listen to Richard Perle speak without gnashing my teeth, and I agree with the man.
But Saddam Hussein is not on the world’s agenda because of Richard Perle’s conciliatory attitude or Donald Rumsfeld’s commitment to nation building. No, when Saddam is deposed, we will have bullying, stubborn, ally-alienating hawks to thank. And it will have been worth it.
[1/21/03 20:38] |
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