Keywords or Terms: Rudy Giuliani; Un-American; Un-Patriotic; Rudygate; Henchman Mentality; Maligning
leadership; White House; Presidency of Barack Obama; Ronald Reagan’s
Presidency; Jimmy Carter’s Presidency; Iran-Contra Affairs; Republican
Party Leadership; Governor Scot Walker; US Congress; Cabal of uncivilized Republicans; New
Yorker; US House Speaker John Boehner; and First African-American
President
Anyone who is not blinded by his own leadership style or slight
achievement while in political office must recognize that Rudy Giuliani’s
comments regarding President Obama’s patriotism is close to self-incrimination.
How did Mayor Giuliani come to the conclusion that the President is not
patriotic? Can he truly identify all actions taken by the President that are genuinely un-American? Many Americans, including those of us who are staunch
supporters of the President can identify some actions taken by the White House
under President Obama that we are not in complete agreement; however, none that
we know of has risen to the level of being un-American or unpatriotic. No
President in the history of this Democracy has genuinely set out to damage the
country; none. But the immediate perceptions of some statements or actions
taken by the President could have been seen or construed as not in complete
interest of the people; however, none can be assessed as a first or deliberate
effort to be unpatriotic, because he hates America. How many people do you know
go through the stress of running two national election campaigns, including the rigors
and pressures, the highs and the lows of primaries, the irredeemable exhaustion
that have led one or two of our Presidents to collapse and die, just few days
or weeks after coronation; just because they want to destroy the country or are
un-American?
We are not concerned here about Party politics, henchman man
mentality and suspicious intentions of Mayor Giuliani to make the adverse
comments. To level head Americans, if you do not have anything good to say
about a person, why not try reserving your comments; or like my son puts it:
shut up! Yet there are many who would agree with Rudy Giuliani that it is
within his rights to assess the President as un-American and there are actions
that have failed the consistency of matching the challenge of the moment for
the nation, coming out of Obama’s White House. However, do these actually mean
the President is un-American or unpatriotic? In Mayor Giuliani’s stewardship of
New York City, could he say he exercised leadership that is beyond reproach,
that couldn't be perceived by others as non-New Yorker or unpatriotic to the
oath he took?
Two mistakes are replicate of Mayor Giuliani’s comment. One is the
failure to understand President Obama’s leadership style in the past six years
– the failure to realize that the President comes with a variant of emerging
decisions, some of which are designed to make the country a more equal or
fairer society regarding health, finances, religion, and sexual orientation
issues. President Obama’s leadership brand would not have survived, if he
subscribes to the hawkish policies supported by Mayor Giuliani and many
Republicans, because Obama won his first election on an anti-war platform. All,
but a few of his leadership decisions has been in fulfilment of his promise to
voters; and millions of Americans who are tired of the Republican war mongering
flair and orientation, saw it fit to allow him win a second term. An ideology
using war and terror to drive foreign policy is not completely emblematic of
patriotism; it is actually the contrary. Sending young children, the best of
our twenty-something to die in Iraq, for a misplaced choice of decision in
Presidential leadership, is essentially and inevitably, unpatriotic. Does this
necessarily make President George W. Bush un-American? Either
Mayor Giuliani is playing politics or he is more interested in maligning the
leadership style of the President; or, he is out to destroy the personality of
a sitting President of the United States.
The second and equally prevalent mistake of the Mayor’s comment is
to assume that decisions taken by the President are consummated by him and
there are no outside inputs to them. In case Mayor Giuliani is oblivious of it,
no President, none in modern history, ever made a comment with policy implications
that do not have inputs of advisors, party leadership, pressure groups, and
believe it, lobbyists. Before a President rises to the rostrum to proclaim a
policy statement, hundreds of staff hours had already gone into deliberations
regarding the statement. Mayor Giuliani’s erroneous statement skews the
perception of challenges that people in leadership confront everyday of their
incumbency. The misinterpretation of many of President Obama’s policy
statements as being un-American or unpatriotic is fraught with tragic
consequences; and this is probably the reason why the White House Press
Secretary labels Rudy’s comment at a private dinner with
probable- 2016 presidential-candidate, Governor Scott Walker, as unfortunate.
Democrats and Republicans are no less irked with comments from a former mayor
who is admired by some in the country and considered by others to have had a
profound response to the unfortunate event of September 11, 2001.
Seasons of presidential political campaign have tendency to bring
out the worst in some undisciplined politicians. One no longer has to wait for
the full season of 2016 Presidential Campaign before insults and unscrupulous
comments are flung around by mischievous politicians. “Rudy-gate?” Millions of
Americans, who are apprehensive of Politian’s intentions, now have a good
reason to see once admired public stature of another politician, as complete
rues. If Mayor Giuliani is ever going to redeem himself, he must henceforth be
cautious of his utterance; however if he chooses otherwise, he is welcomed to
continue in his ruinous and destructive way to talk about another human being,
not to talk of a sitting President of this great nation.
Many Americans receive information regarding a President’s
performance from poles, perceptions of families and relatives, and
occasionally, other politicians. These days, Americans receive information
about the performance of their President from the following sources: the
Internet, Network Television News; Satellite and Radio Broadcasts; Podcasts;
Mass Emails; Professional Journals, Newspapers and a host of unconventional
sources. I am not including other sources, which credence is hardly given,
including after drink dinner party comments of unscrupulous and mean intention
washed out past politicians, who have cashed out on their past political glory
in office to claim security expertise in defrauding some third world
countries. Rudy Giuliani and Scott Walker
may decide to take on President Obama on other issues; however, many of us have
had enough of the ruthless and uncivilized way many Republicans continue to
treat a sitting President of the United States. If Rudy Giuliani is any good
for the Presidency why was he cast aside by his party on his first run?
When historical records of past Presidencies are considered, the
paucity and distortions of Republican Administrations’ performance are
alarming. How about, Iran-Contra Affairs and the behemoth acceptance by Ronald
Reagan that US sold weapons to Islamic Republican of Iran as part of unsuccessful
bid to secure release of American Citizens held hostages in Lebanon? How about
Reagan’s Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary and his
associates’ act of rigging housing bids to favor Republican Contributors to
Reagan campaigns or rewarding lobbyists? What would you say of Reagans’
Secretary of Interiors sixteen convictions, including twenty-four felonies? How
would you interpret Reagan’s campaign team acquisition of briefing papers that
were supposed to be used by President Jimmy Carter for preparation for the
October 28, 1980 debate? Were these considered un-American for President
Reagan? Were these involuntary duplicity or treacherous act that may rise to
the level of being labelled un-American?
It is sufficient to recall that until recent time, the very act of
impugning a sitting President of the United States is considered un-American.
The scope and cruelty with which some Republicans have gone after President
Obama leadership have been rather shameful; and a reflection of how degenerative
the Republican Party’s decorum has become. To take a further example, the
Sitting US House Speaker, Republican John Boehner, has gone behind the Obama’s
Whitehouse to arrange for another leader of a country that is involved in
interacted and persistent unwinnable Middle-East war to come and address the
United States Congress. Violating all known protocols and showing disregard for
the providence of the US Presidency in foreign policy? Where has this been ever
done in history? The authors of the willful disregard for the office of the US
Presidency under President Obama must be ready for a backlash, when next a
Republican ever holds that office. The country is now tired of the continued
insult to the United States Presidency; we are convinced that there is a cabal
of uncivilized Republicans, who are not only racists, but actually ignorant of
what the office of the Presidency entails.
The interpretation of the current “un-American” comments from
Mayor Rudy Giuliani underscores the current fervent radicalism in the
Republican Party. In recent time, the Republican Party is noticeable dominated
by far-right extreme groups bent on discrediting anything good about the first
African-American President of the United State. Different derogation means and
approaches have been used to undermine the Presidency of Barack H. Obama, some
of them are symptomatic of the racist-inclination of some extreme
neo-conservatives of the party. The recent comments of Rudy may be explained
away by several superficial analogies; however, what many Americans draw from
this are the unconscionable and infuriating underclasses that the Republicans
have gradually metamorphosed into. While American patriotism is still the
object of indisputable drawing, no one would entertain a situation in which the
President of this great country is accused and or ascribed as un-American for
anyone reason.
No comments:
Post a Comment