Persistence and Innovation: Rudy’s Recipe for Tackling Challenges

In just over two months, many Republicans will have chosen their candidate for President. So far, the campaign has been defined by bickering over stances on a plethora of issues—abortion, immigration, and balanced budgets to name a few. To us, only former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has been able to transcend particular stances on individual issues and demonstrate bold leadership qualities that set him apart from the Republican field.

Rudy exemplified two important qualities as mayor of New York: persistence and innovation, two ostensibly opposing characteristics that he managed to combine to great effect. His methodology was pretty simple. Once he identified a problem, Rudy worked relentless to solve it. Yet, he always did so with an awareness of all the available strategies, harnessing both his abilities and his talented staff to implement novel, yet effective solutions.

Take his approach to fighting crime: By the time he finished his first term as mayor, crime had dropped by somewhere between 12 and 16 percent—for three consecutive years. From the start, Rudy challenged the idea that crime is tied to economic distress. Under him, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton implemented two innovative strategies, “broken window” policing and CompStat. “Broken window” policing emphasized arresting those who committed victimless crimes, operating under the assumption that those individuals were most likely to commit violent crimes. CompStat consolidated all data about recent crimes and arrests so that the NYPD could search for crime patterns in given neighborhoods.

The systematic manner in which Rudy tackled crime can be observed in his solutions for other problems. With regard to education, Rudy increased standards in New York’s high schools and colleges. He reduced mob control of certain city markets, restructured the city’s hospital system, recharged the city after 9/11, and rectified many more problems, while reducing the tax burden on New Yorkers by over 17 percent. The list goes on.

He was also more concerned with achieving results than with touting partisan ideology. He reduced welfare rolls by 18 percent by adopting President Clinton’s “workfare” approach to fighting poverty.

Some misinterpret his steadfastness for pig-headedness and point to his dismissal of certain staff members as a mark of arrogance. Yet, as persistent—and insistent—as Rudy was as mayor, he always listened to staff input and avoided making knee-jerk decisions. When addressing issues that plagued the city, he always made sure to approach challenges “correctly” rather than “rapidly.” The results are evident. We have no doubt the same will be true of his presidency.

We’ve often heard the conventional wisdom that mayors lack the experience necessary to be president. However, in terms of domestic policy issues, New York City is, as much as a city can be, a microcosm of the United States. Problems such as inefficient spending, crime, and a flawed education system are challenges faced by governments at all levels, and Rudy has time and again proven he can tackle these sorts of problems. And, in addressing problems he wasn’t exposed to as mayor, Rudy would apply his model of persistence and innovation to craft the right solutions.

In his 12 Commitments, Rudy not only emphasizes fiscal discipline, but also discusses several more fundamental challenges America faces today. These include energy independence, health care, the War on Terror, globalization, and immigration. He responds to each of these issues with innovative strategies.

With respect to energy independence and climate change, he emphasizes the need to transition to alternative fuels. Rudy plans to systematically track the progress of climate change and energy initiatives the way he tracked crime in New York.

His approach to other issues is equally novel. Rudy advocates free trade more passionately than any other candidate. While others have pandered to unions and interest groups, Rudy unabashedly asserts that a market for American-made goods is essential to growth in a global economy.

With respect to health care, Rudy believes in free-market solutions, but at the same time, is willing to grant tax deductions of up to $15,000 for those who lack employer-covered health care.

His approach to immigration reform will ensure that we secure our borders and identify all illegal immigrants, while recognizing that immediate deportation is impractical. In addition, he emphasizes several measures to increase the immigration of skilled workers who contribute to our economic growth.

Perhaps the most important areas in which we need to reevaluate our approach are homeland security and the War on Terror. Rudy’s strategy consists of more than indiscriminately deploying troops. Instead, he wants to completely revamp the intelligence community. He’s also keen on more diplomatic methods, such as exchange programs between the United States and Muslim countries to encourage an exchange of ideas. Although Rudy discusses the issue of terrorism extensively, he is not the fear-mongering hawk that some make him out to be. Rudy truly believes that restructuring our approach to fighting terror is our most daunting task. But unlike Republican rivals, he discusses his plans in concrete terms.

If he is indeed elected, Rudy will not enter the White House with an extensive moral agenda to impose on the American people. He comes to the Presidency with both the powerful determination to tackle the most urgent problems we face, and the acumen to formulate effective solutions to address them.

Rohan Prasad ’10 is a Social Studies concentrator in Winthrop House and chair of the Harvard chapter of Students for Rudy.