Rudy’s whitewash: What his self-serving op-ed reveals about how conservatives see the world

[DonViejo]

In Wall Street Journal op-ed, former NYC mayor attempts to explain himself -- but inadvertently explains much more

LUKE BRINKER

Five days after he sparked a political firestorm with his remarks that President Obama doesn’t love America and “wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up,” Rudy Giuliani is out with a new op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, in which he avows that he “didn’t intend to question President Obama’s motives or the content of his heart.” Instead, the former New York City mayor asserts, he was simply trying to make a point about “the effect his words and his actions have on the morale of the country, and how that effect may damage his performance.”

It was only late last week that a defiant Giuliani dredged up Jeremiah Wright and told Megyn Kelly that he continued to have “doubts about his emotions, his feelings, his attitudes and the way in which [Obama] developed,” but the former mayor now wants us to hear him out about how he meant nothing personal toward the president. “Irrespective of what a president may think or feel, his inability or disinclination to emphasize what is right with America can hamstring our success as a nation,” Giuliani writes. “This is particularly true when a president is seen, as President Obama is, as criticizing his country more than other presidents have done, regardless of their political affiliation.” Giuliani proceeds to assail Obama for a “lack of moral clarity” in his words about Islamic fundamentalism, American exceptionalism, and the country’s history. Why can’t Obama simply pay tribute to America every once in awhile, Giuliani wonders, ignoring all the times Obama has done precisely that.

more
http://www.salon.com/2015/02/23/rudys_whitewash_what_his_self_serving_op_ed_reveals_about_how_conservatives_see_the_world/