I'll join the chorus of folks arguing that the very sight of Barack Obama taking the oath of office would do more to restore America's good name in the world than any imaginable policy platform. Similarly, Hillary Clinton's ascension, which would be read as Bill Clinton's return, would, at the least, signal a return to a style of American leadership much of the world found steady and comforting, at least until Hillary goes hard at Iran.
I think some attention, however, should be paid to the downsides of a Giuliani ascension, which strike me as, if anything, more important than the upsides of an Obama presidency. The moment Giuliani wins, the newspaper's of the Arab world will be flooded with the translated quotations of Norman Podhoretz ("If we bomb the Iranians, as I hope and pray we will..."), Daniel Pipes ("The Palestinians are a miserable people...and they deserve to be."), and Giuliani's many other associated crackpots. It would be a catastrophe for our image, and cement every wavering Muslim's belief that America has durably embraced a hateful, imperialistic, anti-Arab foreign policy.
