Rudy Giuliani, Former New York Mayor, landed in a media thunderstorm after his quite controversial comments as to President Obama’s love for the country. Not only did the former mayor’s office begin receiving death threats right since the event, but he also received widespread criticism from officials the US-over.
Jeh Johnson, for instance, Homeland Security Secretary, expressed his disappointment with former Mayor Giuliani’s “regrettable” words. Reminiscing the times when Giuliani and himself had fruitful collaborations, visiting fire stations and police headquarters in Manhattan as well as teaming up when Johnson was a federal prosecutor, the Homeland Security Secretary said that, despite his admiration for Giuliani, he could not support the former mayor’s claims.
“I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America. He doesn’t love you. And he doesn’t love me. He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up through love of this country,””
Giuliani said in a statement that not only shocked but upset many Americans.
Democratic leaders have already begun assailing the former New York mayor for his comments, urging potential Republican presidential candidates to reprimand Giuliani for the uncalled-for remarks.
Giuliani spoke about President Obama during a private dinner held at Gov. Scott Walker’s home (Wisconsin’s Republican governor). When asked about the remarks he made, Giuliani stood by his initial statement, explaining that he is still convinced that the president does not love America and that he doesn’t see the country as nourishing the same enthusiasm for him.
Of course, critics then turned to Gov. Walker for comments on the remarks that Giuliani made during the dinner he hosted, however, the Wisconsin governor only provided evasive answers. He encouraged inquirers to ask the president himself when wondering about Obama’s love for the country, as he had never directly addressed the matter. Walker was questioned further about the president’s faith:
“You’ve asked me to make statements about people that I haven’t had a conversation with about that. How (could) I say if I know either of you are a Christian?”
the governor responded while underlining that such questions were exactly the reason why people “hate Washington” and have a general distrust for the press. Gov. Walker added that the questions that reporters addressed couldn’t have remotely come close to what information the public would have wanted to receive.
On the other hand, the former mayor even noted that other political leaders, such as Bobby Jindal, Louisiana Governor, actually applauded his remarks and congratulated him on his brutal honesty. Spokespeople with Jindal’s office confirmed the phone call that Giuliani referred to, however, they mentioned that the Louisiana Governor did not agree with every remark that Giuliani made.
According to Curt Anderson, Jindal’s spokesman, the Governor did call the former New York mayor in an attempt to prepare Giuliani for the incoming criticism he was going to receive. While acknowledging that not everything that Giuliani said was on-spot, Jindal is also concerned with the president’s current attitude towards the Islamist radicals. Furthermore, Anderson said, Giuliani displayed excellent leadership while in-office and did not deserve the media’s condemnation and marginalization.
“The President has proven to be an inept and incapable commander in chief.”
Anderson concluded.
When interviewed by the Daily News, former mayor Giuliani explained that, as he sees it, President Obama is a product of socialism and communism. According to Giuliani’s statements, Obama grew up in the household of a white family and, as a result, it’s impossible for the president to be a product of the African-American society.
Despite having continuously contextualized his comments since the dinner at Gov. Walker’s home, Giuliani has declined to apologize for them, insisting that they were honest remarks rather than pieces of a politically calculated agenda. In fact, when asked about the media firestorm that his remarks caused, Giuliani said that he rather enjoyed it:
“I’m glad they’re making a big deal out of it, (because it’s) an issue of life and death, which is a lack of leadership by our President.”
In fact, Giuliani mentioned that he was aware that many of the well-known members of the media had been in attendance at Gov. Walker’s dinner.
Last week, Giuliani harshly criticized president Obama’s foreign policy, expressing disgust with the president’s management of the Egyptian Christian executions event. Giuliani insists that the president acted wrongly in both the ISIS executions and the terrorist attack on the Paris Jewish market, noting that one cannot view Islamic extremism as an abstraction.
Image Source: The Observer