Hillary vs Bush Redux
A companion piece to Spackler's previous posting on Hillary, this article discusses Giuliani's management style during his tenure as Hizzoner and what it portends for a potential Rudy presidency.
This piece comes across as more of a hatchet job than the Times piece on Clinton, but some of it strikes me as strangely, and frighteningly, believable, and the writer quotes numerous sources and examples to back up a disturbing picture of Rudy as egocentric and power hungry.
Nym, is this the guy your father in law has been warning us about?
http://www2.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2007/0711.morris.html
-Ico
posted by The Iconoclast @ 11:24 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
A close friend of mine had a couple of opportunities to work as an intern in Giulani’s office when he headed the State Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and his opinions by and large coincided with this item.
As an example, he was invited to dinner at Rudy’s house (along with many others) at the end of their internship and it was clear even at the time (the late 80’s) that he had his eye on the highest political prize. My friend also says that, while Rudy will listen to dissenting voices, he absolutely prizes loyalty over all other traits.
To me, the question on this topic for both Rudy and Hillary is not whether they surround themselves with loyalists, I think it's clear that they both do. (In fact, I would go so far as to say this is becoming more of the norm than the exception in American politics.)
To me, the more important question is how much are they truly surrounded by yes men, and if they are given advice by independent thinkers, what do they do with it? I've told people on my projects for years that I want them to tell me if something I am proposing is stupid. I have told them they can continue to tell me this until they are sure that I understand THEIR position. Once we are clear that I do, then I don't want to hear about it anymore, and I CERTAINLY do not want them speaking about it to others outside of the team. That is my expectation of loyalty, and do not think that is too much to ask for as U.S. President.
In the current administration, I do not know what the problem was. Were there too many people giving the president the same advice, or were they giving him no advice, or was he not listening to their advice?
One thing is clear to me, however. I will base my vote in the next presidential election on the person that I believe that can do better than the current administration to respond to the critical situations that come down the pipe. That's probably the most important quality I will be looking for.
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