Peggy Noonan
writes that there's a huge stature gap among the presidential
candidates. While in his Iraq speech earlier this week McCain
"sounded like a serious man addressing a serious issue in a serious
way," she thinks Huckabee and Romney (varmint gate) look small by
comparrison.
But she saves her most blistering criticism for Giuliani:
Here was Rudy Giuliani this week in a speech in
California. No one much noted it--he was lucky it was subsumed by
the Imus wave. But this is how Mr. Giuliani opened a speech to
citizens considering his candidacy for the American presidency.
"Thank youse all very much for invitin' me here tuh-day, to this
meeting of the families from different parts'a California."
He was imitating Marlon Brando in "The Godfather." (The
rendering comes from a Newsday report.) Actually the character of
Don Corleone, as drawn by Mario Puzo, was possessed of a certain
verbal elegance, but never mind. Mr. Giuliani's imitation was clear
enough to inspire in the audience a smattering of applause and,
apparently, laughter.
Earlier in the week, in reaction to a spate of
critical stories about his wife, Judith, he asked reporters to
leave her alone: "I am a candidate. She's a civilian, to use the
old Mafia distinction."
Ah. Can't have enough candidates for president who whimsically
employ the language of mobsters.
Now, I'm not one to criticize anyone for making such remarks given
that I've used
Godfather references to
assess
a certain former mayor's presidential prospects and even
diagnose
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But with that said, I have heard
a lot of people tell me they think that Giuliani's various
schticks, while amusing and endearing to some, simply do not look
presidential. So, will voters, likewise, think of Giuliani as the
man they'd like to sit down and have a cannoli with, but not want
to have as the commander in chief? I don't think Giuliani should
hide his personality, but as the campaign goes on, I think he'll
have to find a proper balance.
His Oct. 2001
speech to the United Nations was particularly presidential, and
in fact, it was the speech that first made me think about the
prospect of him becoming president.
topics:
Iraq, Israel, United Nations
