Is Rudy Giuliani the political reincarnation of Richard Nixon? That was the argument former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson made in a Washington Post column last week.
Leave aside the obvious facts that Nixon's presidency ended in disgrace more than 30 years ago, that times, societies, and politics change, and that different politicians capture the imagination of different constituencies in different ways. And leave aside the fact that Gerson incorrectly says Giuliani supports the "waterboarding" interrogation technique, even though Giuliani has said repeatedly since June that he does not think waterboarding is necessary in "aggressive" interrogations. In his column, Gerson offers three arguments for why Giuliani more closely resembles Nixon than the former New York City mayor's self-described hero and former boss, Ronald Reagan. The arguments don't add up.
The first is that Nixon was "a talented man without an ideological compass," and Gerson thinks Giuliani shows signs of being the same. The only evidence for this that Gerson offers is Giuliani's endorsement of Democrat Mario Cuomo over George Pataki in the 1994 New York gubernatorial race. But Giuliani's (wrongheaded) decision had more to do with his longstanding rivalry with Pataki and Pataki's patron, former New York senator Alfonse D'Amato, than ideology.
Though he doesn't mention it, that rivalry actually lends a little credence to Gerson's second argument, which is that "Giuliani's combativeness, on occasion, blurs into pettiness." But Gerson backs this assertion with no evidence, so one has to assume he doesn't take it too seriously.
That leaves Gerson's third argument. He says a
Giuliani primary victory would "place the Republican nominee in direct conflict with the Roman Catholic Church." This is because Giuliani's positions on abortion, stem cell research, and the death penalty are the "exact opposite of Catholic teaching." That may be true, but it is not an argument for why Giuliani resembles Nixon, a Quaker. It's an argument for social and religious conservatives, Catholics in particular, to oppose Giuliani. It's also worth remembering that the Catholic church ignores the departures from its teaching of Ted Kennedy and any number of Democrats far to the left of Giuliani on these issues.
In fact, on almost any issue, the differences between Giuliani and Nixon are profound. Start with domestic policy. Nixon presided over a large government expansion, creating new federal departments like the Environmental Protection Agency. Giuliani says that he would cut government, shrinking the federal workforce by 20 percent by not replacing retiring employees, requiring mandatory 5 to 20 percent budget cuts in all departments annually, and ending the practice of anonymous congressional earmarks. Nixon also instituted the first racial preferences program for government contracting. Giuliani was the first GOP candidate to release a statement praising the Supreme Court's recent anti-preferences ruling.
Nixon authored massive federal interventions with an eye toward short-term political gain. Regulations spewed forth from the Nixon administration, most famously his arbitrary reduction of highway speed limits to 55 miles per hour. He took the U.S. dollar off the gold standard, devaluing the currency and laying the foundation for subsequent inflation. He raised taxes. He imposed wage and price controls. He was willing to impose tariffs and duties to guarantee his reelection.
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