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Many of Giuliani's critics have argued that his focus on Sept. 11 has distorted his perception of the world, making him have an exaggerated view of the terrorist threat, and preventing him from seeing Islamic terrorism as one of many national security challenges America faces. His selection of neoconservative icon Norman Podhoretz as a foreign policy adviser raised fears among critics that a President Giuliani would be eager to bomb Iran. Andrew Sullivan has accused Giuliani of "9/12 extremism" -- an insinuation that the former mayor is stuck in the mindset that dominated the emotionally charged environment in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, and thus incapable of making rational foreign policy decisions.

But for those who do believe that the struggle against Islamic terrorism is the defining issue of our times, Giuliani's personal connection to the tragic event should be seen as a plus. One of the dangerous possibilities in this ongoing war is that the further removed we are from Sept. 11th, the more temptation there will be to move on, and the more people will argue that the threat of terrorism is not that big of a deal.

The intellectual groundwork for this point of view was laid last year when political science professor John Mueller wrote Overblown: How Politicians and the Terrorism Industry Inflate National Security Threats, and Why We Believe Them, in which he argued the threat of terrorism has been greatly exaggerated.

The general narrative that America needs to get beyond 9/11 is consistently pushed in the media. A New York magazine article on Giuliani written earlier this year matter-of-factly declared, "Except for those who have a personal connection to the tragedy, people have generally moved on." As the sixth anniversary of the event approached, the media were running stories on so-called "9/11 fatigue," and seeking out people who would lament the fact that we are still grieving the tragedy after all these years. But Giuliani had a different perspective.

"For me every day is an anniversary of Sept. 11," Giuliani said in St. Petersburg last week.

Obviously, Giuliani's personal connection to Sept. 11 shouldn't be the sole argument in support of his candidacy, but the crucial challenge for the next president will be to make sure America remains vigilant in fighting terrorism. The graphic images of the carnage of Sept. 11 will always be seared into Giuliani's memory, and he is unlikely to let short-term fluctuations in polls or petty political controversies cloud his view of the bigger picture.

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