Look, Rudy did a very good job as mayor, far better than that hack Dinkins or that clown Koch. He had the balls to take steps to improve day to day living in the city, which, along with the concurrent economic boom, improved the town greatly in many respects. He had a huge ego and a Schumer-esqe love for the TV cameras, but that never bothered me. And while the way that he treated his wife won't win him any awards, it is pretty ireelevant to me as long as he got the job as mayor done.
My arguments against him were that he was often petty and vindictive, going out of his way to alienate when there was no need to do so. He was absolutely hated by the time that 9/11 came around. His black and white way of looking at things seem far more dangerous in Iran as opposed to Washington Heights.
Was he heroic on that day? I guess -- he made himself the face of the tragedy and projected leadership. I thought at the time that he was a little too eager for the spotlight, but at the time it was reassuring. But what exactly did he DO? Prior to the event, he certainly did two things wrong -- first, he placed the command center in the wrong place (which really didn't turn out to be too big of a deal). Second, and more importantly, he never settled the pissing match between police and fire on emergency response. At a minimum, this led to chaos on 9/11. At worst, it led to the deaths of a lot of firefighters on 9/11 who didn't know that the north tower might fall and who had time to get out.
Personally, I'm disgusted as to how he's exploited the tragedy for his own gain. Whether it was trying to extend his mayoral term, his "thank God that W. is our president line" at the GOP convention (if he actually said that, I'll write a check to his campaign) or his reference of everything in his stump speech to 9/11 (calls from his wife, gun control).
What I don't get is how his actions on that day would help him as our President.
