Saturday, May 17, 2008
Why does everyone want to put Rudy Giuliani on the couch when he throws a temper tantrum?
Mar 29, 2000 | Just a few days after a New York undercover police officer shot Patrick Dorismond during a drug sting, I was chatting with a good Brooklyn buddy -- a successful African-American record producer who involves himself in a variety of community interests. Nominally a Democrat, he's clear-headed and broad-minded enough to advise both the Urban League and the national Republican Party. In many ways, his political outlook is not very different from that of the Rev. Floyd Flake, the black former congressman from Queens, who endorsed New York Mayor Rudy Giuiliani in his 1997 reelection bid, but broke with him in the wake of the Amadou Diallo shooting.
As we headed to a New York comedy club, we discussed Giuliani's controversial reaction to the Dorismond shooting. As he usually does in such situations, Giuliani responded by offering strong support for the cops, while asking that everyone refrain from making judgments. He promptly raised the stakes by violating his own advice and releasing Dorismond's arrest record -- including his sealed juvenile offenses. It was a situation made for Al Sharpton and one which the good reverend has seized.
My buddy blurted out, "I think he's nuts. There's no other explanation. It's just crazy that he would behave this way." The conversation continued and I noted that, ironically enough, Giuliani has brought together three groups that traditionally interacted only warily -- African-Americans, West Indians and African immigrants -- albeit in hostility toward him.
The more recent immigrants don't always buy into the politics of grievance that appear to animate native-born blacks, but the three killings of unarmed men from these communities by the NYPD in 13 months has mobilized these communities. "And Palestinians, too," our driver volunteered, unsolicited.
Later, my friend amended his view of the mayor, but was still harshly critical: "He may not be nuts, but his personality may breed crime itself. Consider the law-abiding young, 20-something black male who has seen too many of his brothers incarcerated and wants to make something of himself. After being stopped and frisked three times in one night on the way home from his job, at what point does that young man just say to hell with it? People end up acting the way society expects them to. Crazy or not, Rudy Giuliani is not being a good public servant."
But is he, as Jesse Jackson ventured after the shooting, "mental"? It's an unfair accusation that can't be easily defended. But that's exactly the question that is being uttered by New Yorkers about their mayor these days.
It was clear from the beginning that Rudy Giuliani's temperament would be an issue in his Senate campaign against Hillary Clinton. Liberals feel it's a legitimate issue given that the mayor has never been perceived as Mr. Warmth and will never be confused with a "compassionate conservative."
Clinton said as much in the current New York magazine: "There's a real contrast in leadership styles. Willingness to listen to people and actually learn from people ... I would look for every possible way to work with my colleagues to try to get things done for New York. And I wouldn't expect if I disagreed with them, I could sue them or fire them." Clinton didn't say that Giuliani's temperament does not lend itself to "playing well with others." She doesn't have to.
Riding the No. 1 train this past weekend, I found myself listening to a pair of fellow strap-hangers. They were a typical white couple in their early 20s, Downtown types, maybe just out of college. Probably one of the few couples on the New York subway John Rocker would find normal. No purple hair here, though the guy's was uncombed and shoulder-length. Rudy just naturally flowed into their conversation.
Young woman: "I can't believe Mom likes Giuliani. She'd never voted for a Republican before. Doesn't she realize that he's a lunatic?"
Young man: "Well, just hope that he keeps spouting off. Maybe everyone will start thinking the same."
Jackson, Clinton, my buddy, random subway riders. I was detecting a pattern of here. But surely not everyone thinks the mayor's nuts.
Get Salon in your mailbox!