2 posts tagged “rudolf giuliani”
The two candidates were brought together by the Catholic Church on Friday. Congregating in the Plaza Hotel, although they brought traffic in the city to a halt they also brought an overarching air of civility and decency to the campaign. It was notable that this tradition did not take place in 2004 as a result of Kerry’s disagreements with the Catholic Church (and commentators suggested this might also be the reason for the absence of Rudolf Guliani).
This was an example of what makes politics in this country civilized. Despite differences of opinion, approach and outlook both of the candidates took a step back and accepted (innately by attending and overtly in their respective speeches) the common principles that united them as well as the belief in America of which they are both so proud. It was also heartening to see the two candidates laugh at each other as well as themselves. Voters got a good chance to see the human side of them both. Clearly this is not an event that should happen everyday – conspiracy theorists as well as those on the margins of society would perceive a plot / cabal of politicians who are in collusion with one another. But it was with great dignity that we are reminded that at the end of all of the divisions that politics creates, it is also about soldering together solutions through compromise and respect for the opinions of others.
Speaker of the House, Nanacy Pelosi, should have taken the opportunity of the vote yesterday to sound grand-eloquent and all embracing. Instead she ceded both political and strategic ground by taking a side shot at the Administration, the Congressional Republicans and the Republican Party. This was a mistake.
Patently, the Republicans were to blame for the failure of the vote. This is both clear from the breakdown of command of their own party that defied their party lines as well as by the ideological reservation of those that did so. The fact that two thirds of the Democratic Party voted for the bill should have cleared the way for the Democrats to label the Republicans as the ‘wreckers’ of the package.
Instead of this clear cut clarity (that the voters like) Pelosi’s words were enough to muddy the waters. Against charges leveled against the Congressional Republicans, the Republican Party through Rudolf Giuliani and others could point to these very public utterances that it was out of synchronization with at least the spirit of the bill. The worst thing is that her words clearly had no affect i.e. they were not the main driver of the ‘nay’ vote. But it was a pure gift of political capital to the Republicans who can now claim a) to have supported the survival package b) to have rejected unnecessary expense to the tax payer and c) to have attempted to act in a bipartisan manner. The Republicans must be grateful to Nancy Pelosi.
