The Mayor

There is a lot I like about Rudy Giuliani. He was a superb mayor of New York. While he is criticized for his PR sense, especially after 9/11 (that he may have had style over substance), his visibility in the city after the tragedy offered a profound sense of the public role of a public official. Besides that, in spite of the apologists for David Dinkins (who claim that most of the credit for New York reforms were in place with the Dinkins administration), he really did make some very positive changes in the city. Were all of his ideas original?- of course not. But were they effective? - absolutely.

I think Rudy can be dinged for his personal life in a number of ways. His family relations have been absurd and that bothers me. A good friend of his has commented to me that Guiliani is an odd mix between an unstable personal life and an absolute energy, intelligence and commitment in his public life. I am not sure how I will finally come down on that but at this point it concerns me.

His policy positions, for the most part, are things I agree with. His tax policies are well thought out - especially his proposal to create an almost universal HSA like program to bring the market back into health care. It is the soundest response to escalating health costs that I have seen.

I am also bothered by some of the company he keeps. Soon after he left the Mayor's office he did a contract in Mexico on security issues which I thought, from some very limited first hand experience, looked a bit odd.

Would I vote for him? If I vote in the GOP primary he is likely to be one of the candidates that I consider most seriously.