Jim, I think you have hit the nail on the head. Rudy has many enticing qualities. He comes across as a no-nonsense guy, personable, with strong leadership skills and a grasp of the issues.
But, like Newt, who also makes a great impression if you don't know anything about his past and just watch or listen to him on the issues, the baggage (and how the candidate will respond to the baggage) is going to be a problem. And the problem would be more in the republican primaries than in the general election, in my view.
Having been in New York a great deal of the time during Rudy's marital problems with wife number two and wife number three...and having observed the general tiredness with which much of New York looked at the mayor in that period before 9/11....I just can't see how some of his personal choices and his professional choices won't come back to haunt him. Not to mention his pro-choice, anti-gun credentials.
As for Newt, Bill Clinton played Newt like a violin during the 1995 budget showdown. Newt had a lot of trouble keeping his mouth shut when it should have stayed shut, and he could not pull a coalition behind him successfully once the luster of the Contract with American wore off and the actual job of governing got in the way. Newt is a great idea man and a wonderful conceptual planner, but I can't see him actually leading the Country. Like a bull, he responds to the red cape just too readily.
Rudy is the man of the hour..it will be very interesting to see how the exposition of his actual historic positons, and his manner of leading his personal life, are contrasted with the other candidates...
That's why the political season is so darn much fun! |
