Skybird
10-23-07, 06:57 AM
an interesting perspective:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,513006,00.html
For the public, a politician's defeat can even offer refreshing insights into his character. Voters, finally, are able to learn more about him. What is he made of? How much pain and humiliation can he withstand? Where does political flexibility end and where do the true values begin, the values that shape his thoughts and actions?
(...)
In the political center -- a place where modern people rooted in pragmatism reside -- this reprimand by the religious right is practically a certificate identifying Giuliani as a man of sanity and reason. Most Americans have a low opinion of homophobia and understand the plight of women who decide to have an abortion as a last recourse. Many are also able to draw the line between their own spirituality and the common good. America is no theocracy.
(...)
"I may be a good actor if I do it well, but I'm a follower," he said. Instead, he told his audience, he preferred to take the opposite approach and offer them "the sum total of my intellect, my experience, my education, my conscience, my heart, my mind." "And then," he proposed, "you have a right to agree with that, disagree with it, partially agree, partially disagree, and then figure out if I'm the right person for you to support. But for me to twist myself all up to try to figure out exactly what you want to hear and today say one thing and the next day another thing and a year from now -- If you do that too long, you lose the sense of what leadership is all about."
(...)
A man like Giuliani can be dangerous for Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, who currently enjoys only a slim, 4 percent lead over Giuliani in the opinion polls. Indeed, an opponent who is considered tough on security issues but is not ignorant of the modern age could be Clinton's worst nightmare.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,513006,00.html
For the public, a politician's defeat can even offer refreshing insights into his character. Voters, finally, are able to learn more about him. What is he made of? How much pain and humiliation can he withstand? Where does political flexibility end and where do the true values begin, the values that shape his thoughts and actions?
(...)
In the political center -- a place where modern people rooted in pragmatism reside -- this reprimand by the religious right is practically a certificate identifying Giuliani as a man of sanity and reason. Most Americans have a low opinion of homophobia and understand the plight of women who decide to have an abortion as a last recourse. Many are also able to draw the line between their own spirituality and the common good. America is no theocracy.
(...)
"I may be a good actor if I do it well, but I'm a follower," he said. Instead, he told his audience, he preferred to take the opposite approach and offer them "the sum total of my intellect, my experience, my education, my conscience, my heart, my mind." "And then," he proposed, "you have a right to agree with that, disagree with it, partially agree, partially disagree, and then figure out if I'm the right person for you to support. But for me to twist myself all up to try to figure out exactly what you want to hear and today say one thing and the next day another thing and a year from now -- If you do that too long, you lose the sense of what leadership is all about."
(...)
A man like Giuliani can be dangerous for Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, who currently enjoys only a slim, 4 percent lead over Giuliani in the opinion polls. Indeed, an opponent who is considered tough on security issues but is not ignorant of the modern age could be Clinton's worst nightmare.