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'Rudy The Benevolent' 
Has Room For Improvement

By MICHAEL SCHENKLER

Okay, everybody disarm.

I’m about to take a less-than-popular position.

And people are hot about this one.

My wife doesn’t want to be seen with me in public. Tamara wants to move her desk away from the window.

I mean, I’m right — no doubt about it — but the emotions of the moment have been stirred in an effective meglomaniacal attempt to usurp power.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Rudy Giuliani has done an outstanding job leading this City during the horrific tragedy that befell us, the nation and mankind. We applaud his steadfastness, concern, compassion, communication and leadership. He has risen to the occasion.

Rudy is clearly at his best in times of crisis or war. Rudy The General, Rudy The Prosecutor, Rudy The Benevolent is an authoritarian and effective leader who excels when we are under attack.

His performance has been exemplary since the attacks of September 11th. We admire what he has done.

You know what we admire even more?

Our way of life; our democratic system; our spirit.

No man is indispensable, and no man above the law.

This City, State and nation have codified its rules into constitutions and laws that have served us well. In a democracy, we play by those rules. It makes our system work. It makes our system great.

Well friends, Rudy’s term is up at the end of the year — three months from now. Those are the rules of the game. The City charter and the people have made that clear. That is not to say we don’t admire his performance or want his advice and input to assist the new City mayor and government.

Truly, all great leaders that left office, or were scheduled to leave office, were there offering to assist their successors. They did not try to change the rules. They did not try to usurp legitimate authority. They, out of loyalty and commitment, offered to help in any way requested by their successor.

Today Bill Clinton is out there serving George W. Bush. Sure Bill is more experienced, but if he thinks George is erring, he’s not telling us. Perhaps he’s chatting with George and his people. But Clinton’s public appearances in support of the Bush administration’s efforts are orchestrated by the Bush White House, with Clinton fully on board. Clinton, as well as our other Presidents, are patriots.

They know their history. They know very well, that even in the times of crisis, administrations change.

In January 1952, Harry Truman left office during the effective prosecution of the Korean War. Six months later the conflict was ended. The administration had changed, the country and world survived.

On April 12, 1945, as World War II waged on, Harry Truman replaced F.D.R., perhaps the greatest President who guided this country through conflict. In days, Hitler’s Reich began to collapse, concentration camps were liberated, and less than a month after the change of administration, Victory in Europe was celebrated. Truman, the new commander in chief, turned his energies on Japan and by August 14 he had Japan’s unconditional surrender.

Would these American crises had gone differently had the lawful lines of succession not been followed? No great leader would have considered the possibility. Our system works. Our system is greater than its leaders.

But not with Rudy Giuliani.

Hasn’t that always been his problem?

His ego.

Rudy doesn’t care about the system or the rules. Rudy cares about what Rudy thinks is right. That is not to say that he is not motivated by what he thinks best serves the public. But that’s just not the way it goes.

We’ve criticized him when he violated individual rights. We criticized him when he tried to stifle the press, control artistic expression or support police shootings when they were tragic and/or racially motivated.

No Rudy, your ends don’t justify the means.

No Rudy, no one’s ends justify the means.

No Rudy, your vision is not greater than our system.

And no Rudy, your service to this great City doesn’t entitle you to change the rules and sell it as benevolence.

No way!

It is a shame that you injected your own desires into the middle of an election and have tried to make Rudy Giuliani the issue. Blackmailing mayoral hopefuls with the threat of Rudy The Benevolent’s disdain has sadly resulted in two of our three candidates measuring public emotion and not our system of democracy.

But all of that has confused the important issues and taken the debate away from the candidates to focus again on you — Rudy.

Shame on you!

It’s over. And after years of your marvelous leadership, and after years of your insensitive administration, and after years of cleaning up this City, and after years of dividing this City, you were faced with the greatest challenge any mayor in my lifetime had to face.

And you stepped up to the plate and came through with flying colors. You united, and directed and gave us confidence. You administered, you consoled and gave us pride. You were the best of what New York is all about. You were Mr. New York.

Now Rudy, there are three months left to your party. You can continue to lead, inspire and train till then. You can offer your services to the new mayor on his terms – not yours.

The new mayor has available to him the fine commissioners that have served you and this City so well during crisis. Too bad they don’t have your council. Too bad you will only play if you’re in control. But the new mayor will do just fine. And New Yorkers will do just fine — we are a resilient bunch.

Rudy, there is still time. Govern this great City for the next three months. Continue to lead, unite, inspire, console and make the nation proud — make all of us proud. And then, step aside and stand behind the new mayor. Offer your hand and be there for him and us.

True greatness is in our way of life and not our leaders.

Rudy, thank you; we wish you well.

Please Help Our President

Thank you, Mr. President.

President Bush has performed admirably during this time of crisis. After his managers recognized they have to carefully monitor and control his word flow, things have improved.

Thank goodness, we are no longer going to “get the folks” who did the deed.

And it seems the Texas Governor has given up on his “Wanted: Dead or Alive” approach to fighting terrorism.

I mean, we knew it. Bush ain’t no eloquent speaker. Don’t get me wrong. Al Gore would be no more inspiring — maybe not even as inspiring. Neither of them are Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan.

When they have given President George a prepared script, he has delivered — effectively. His address to the joint session of Congress and the nation was good.

Isn’t expectation a wonderful thing?

You anticipate a bumbling fool and get a decent address, and the guy gets rave reviews. If Clinton or Reagan had done the same, their address would have been rated as mediocre. As long as the yardstick by which he is measured, is expectation, George can’t lose.

He’s got good wordsmiths penning his stuff. He is properly rehearsed. And the man, in spite of his deficiencies, can connect with people. His down-home country charm has gotten him this far and continues to serve him and us well.

So with all of this successful combination, why can’t they come up with a better term for the terrorists than “evildoers.”

I mean duh, “terrorists” is better.

Webster has: Evildoer n  a person who does evil, esp. habitually. Evil adj. Morally bad or wrong; wicked; depraved.

To me it’s — Evildoers: 1) a British literary term describing the villain in a castle surrounded by ground fog. 2) A Stephen King creation that lives in cornfields or marshes. 3) A small boy’s dark plastic character that resides outside of castle Grayskull. 4) Any of the group of foes that battle the Marvel comics legion of superheroes. 5) A bad guy.

According to the Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, the word evildoer can be traced back to before 1387 developed from the Old English “yfel” – bad, wicked or vicious.

Basically, “evildoer” just doesn’t work to describe the perpetrators of one the most heinous acts against humanity in the history of mankind.

Evildoer, to me, is a namby-pamby word. It belongs in the comics. It doesn’t describe ultimata devils.

Now, profanity doesn’t work for the Prez. Hmmm!

So what should it be?

What should Mr. Bush use to describe those vile, hateful, murdering, inhuman “terrorists” he is pursuing?

If you have ideas for something better than “evildoers,” email me at: MSchenkler@queenstribune.com.

We’ll pass it along.

A New & Vital Government

Now that the Primary is over and we have had a moment to look at the winners, I must repeat the refrain that we’ve echoed continually since the election season started:

The candidates that remain after a fiercely competitive primary offer our City a new and energized government.

Term limits – Rudy Giuliani’s woes aside – and campaign finance, have brought us here. A run-off will clarify things further. Nevertheless, the 14 victorious Queens Council Democratic candidates, most of whom, if not all, will be serving the City in January, are bright, motivated, barely tainted by the system and driven to serve the people to the best of their impressive ability.

We congratulate the Dem Beep nominee Helen Marshall and the 14 Democratic Council candidates all of whom won their elections through hard work, organization and smart campaigns — a handful were helped by their names. They are an impressive lot, indeed. We offer them this paper and this column as a place to be heard and be watched. We love politics, we love government and we believe in the system. We will be here doing our part.

We challenge them all: Tony, John, Hiram, Junior, David, Jim, Helen, Eric, Leroy, Allan, Melinda, Liz, James, Joe and, of course, Helen.

Make Queens proud.

Good luck!

Not4Publication.com by Dom Nunziato

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Michael Schenkler can be reached at: MSchenkler@QueensTribune.com

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