The sins of the father

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Rudy Giuliani's family doesn't like him very much -- not least a daughter backing Obama and an ex-wife, Donna Hanover, publicly spat/shat upon by the ex-mayor.

And yet, he just wants people to leave his family alone.

A fine sentiment, I would argue. Why drag family into the mosh pit of political competition? If only his motivation were that noble.

Consider: Why might Rudy want people to leave his family alone?

Well, he certainly doesn't want voters, and especially the socially conservative Republican primary voters he is trying to court, to focus too much on why his family doesn't like him very much, and on what he did that led to his family not liking him very much. Sure, all families are dysfunctional in some way. As Rudy himself put it, "there are complexities in every family in America". But the complexities of the Giuliani family are, well, quite complex, and public, and hardly what Giuliani would want to sell to the American people. Bill and Hillary have at least made some sort of peace. And some families, like the Edwards family, genuinely seems to be full of love. But ask Donna Hanover if she things her ex-husband should be president.

Just he doesn't want voters focusing on his sordid past, neither does he want the press focusing on troubles past and present. I wouldn't want the press focusing on my troubles either, but, then, I'm not running for president. Such investigation, from the public and press alike, comes with the territory. If you're in the Oval Office, and you're making decisions that affect the personal lives of Americans -- and, indeed, the personal lives of everyone around the world, in some way or another -- perhaps you should be at least some model of dignity and decency yourself.

Rudy is a model of neither. And his family hates him.