Giuliani: The Next Great Communicator

Why isn't Rudy Giuliani the spokesperson for the Bush campaign? Rudy has been articulating his views on offensively fighting terrorism with strength, vision and clarity. However, President Bush, who I am supporting in November, has been absolutely miserable in articulating why this "War Against Terror," or more properly, this war against Islamic Fascism is so important and worth every drop of spilled American blood. Bush’s strategy and vision of going into the heart of Islamic fascism by deposing of actual state sponsers of terror (Afghanistan) or their symbols (Iraq), has been necessary and unyielding since September 11th. He has stood steadfast through a multitude of historically unprecedented unknowns and doing so in spite of the political and media pressures surrounding his decision-making. Yet, his administration’s communication of the successes and learned failures in this war has been vague, uncomforting and too secretive.

These shortcomings have allowed an opportunist such as John Kerry to dictate the terms of the debate over how to fight this war. He has developed a meme that claims Bush has “mishandled” and “failed” to manage the postwar in Iraq. Other days, when Kerry needs to pander to his Howard Dean base, he claims the invasion itself was a mistake. Yet Bush has not articulated a clear retort to these attacks, so Kerry’s stumbling campaign has been able to keep the race uncomfortably close. Thankfully, for the first time, Kerry gave Americans a lucid glimpse of his vision for combating terrorism (read Islamic Fascism) in this weekend’s New York Times Magazine (registration required):

When I asked Kerry what it would take for Americans to feel safe again, he displayed a much less apocalyptic worldview. "We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance," Kerry said. "As a former law-enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution. We're never going to end illegal gambling. But we're going to reduce it, organized crime, to a level where it isn't on the rise. It isn't threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally, it's something that you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of your life."

Kerry finally made clear what he has been dancing around during last two debates. He wants to turn back from striking militarily at the heart of governments supporting Islamic Fascist ideology, to the law-enforcement approach that prevailed pre-September 11th. He coyly articulated this view in the first two debates by saying he would better combat terror by conforming to global tests, re-establishing relationships with rejected “allies” and holding summits with leaders in Islamic countries. Each time I found myself jumping up and down frothing at the mouth with hopes that Bush would knock those softballs out of the park. Instead, specifically in the first debate, Bush responded vaguely to his comments by talking about hard work and staying the course. However, today Giuliani took Kerry’s “plan” by the neck and shook every last drop of life out of it:

I’m wondering exactly when Senator Kerry thought they were just a nuisance. Maybe when they attacked the USS Cole? Or when they attacked the World Trade Center in 1993? Or when they slaughtered the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972? Or killed Leon Klinghoffer by throwing him overboard? Or the innumerable number of terrorist acts that they committed in the 70s, the 80s and the 90s, leading up to September 11?

...like Lebannon, or the Lockerbie/Pan Am Bombing, or the Khobar Tower Bombing, or the embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya...Giuliani continues:

This is so different from the President’s view and my own, which is in those days, when we were fooling ourselves about the danger of terrorism, we were actually in the greatest danger. When you don’t confront correctly and view realistically the danger that you face, that’s when you’re at the greatest risk. When you at least realize the danger and you begin to confront it, then you begin to become safer. And for him to say that in the good old days – I’m assuming he means the 90s and the 80s and the 70s -- they were just a nuisance, this really begins to explain a lot of his inconsistent positions on how to deal with it because he’s not defining it correctly.

Those of us who have accepted the post-9/11 world as a place where Islamic fascists will stop at nothing to kill innocent Americans anywhere possible, these words are manna from heaven. With patience, a strong will and courage we can defeat the Islamic Fascist ideology that feeds terrorism. If the President had said anything even remotely prescient as the above statement during the first two debates, I’m convinced you’d see Ohio and Pennsylvania turn permanently red on the electoral projection map. Although a knockout punch is probably unreasonable this late in the election, I can only hope that Bush will use these strong words to give himself some additional momementum heading into November 2nd.

UPDATE: Even though I have expressed my desire for a clear vision, Anthony provides me with a clear vision I could really do without. With respect to all living creatures who have the gift of sight, never mention this bikini ever again.