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PRESIDENT SCARY MCGROUCHYPANTS. Matt Bai has a great look at Rudy Giuliani's appeal in this weekend's New York Times Magazine. Like most good articles, it's hard to blog about, but what stood out for me was Bai's clear understanding of the fact that Giuliani is taking his "I'm the SOB you need" message to the rest of the country. It worked in New York and, given the bunker mentality of the Republican primary electorate, it just might take him to the general election:
Giuliani's view, we live in a dark time, caught up in the opening stages of a war with Islamic radicals that may span a few decades and several continents before it's won. A president has to be willing to be the bad guy, to do the things that may make even his allies uncomfortable, and to do them with ruthless efficiency. So you wouldn't want to have a beer with me, Rudy seems to be saying. So even my own kids don't want to have a beer with me. But whom do you really want staring down the terrorists -- me, or one of these other guys? Do you want someone squeezable, or would you rather hire the single-minded enforcer who had the testicular fortitude to tame New York?When frustrated voters ask Giuliani about the intractability of problems like health care or immigration, as they sometimes do, you can almost see him brighten. "I'm very good," he once began to say at a town hall meeting before stopping to collect his thoughts. "I'm trying to say this in the most humble way possible. I'm very good at doing the impossible."The piece also has some good details about Guiliani's plans for a "borderstat" approach to immigration and a similar approach to security in Iraq. As I said, worth reading. --Sam Boyd
