Rudy and the Commitments

Just as Fred Thompson's poll numbers soar in anticipation of his entry into the race, Rudy Giuliani has upped the ante. Trying to define the terrain on which the contest will be joined, he's unveiled what he's called his 12 Commitments. They've gotten far too little discussion in the press. Number one on his list, and here the wording is important, "I will keep America on offense in the Terrorists' War on Us." This is reverses the Bush framing of a "War on Terrorism" by casting the conflict as a defense of the homeland. He went on, "This, whether we like it or not, is going to be our challenge for this generation. You face bullies and tyrants and terrorists with strength, not weakness."

He also proposes to end illegal immigration with a national tamper proof ID card, reduce the size of the federal government, respond to medical and educational needs with vouchers, and increase adoptions while reducing abortions. These are planks designed to appeal to the conservative voters that may be drifting to Thompson, who will now faced increased pressure

Later, he elaborated on his proposal to cut the federal workforce by declining to replace half the federal workers scheduled to retire in the next few years. "We'll do," he said, "the same thing for government that has to be done for business" namely use new technologies to increase efficiency.

Iraq is notably absent from the list. But subsequently he explained that "Iraq may get better, Iraq may get worse....I don't know the answer to that, but what we do know for sure is that the terrorists are going to be at war with us a year, year-and-a-half from now."

Iraq, he went on, is part of the "terrorist war against us." The U.S. role in Iraq should be based on whether it makes us safer from terrorists, he said "We may be successful in Iraq; we may not be," he said. "What we do know for sure is that terrorists are going to be at war with us a year and a half from now." That means, he argued, that the of the military and intelligence services would have to be expanded while adding a new set of units in which military and civilian experts would work under a single command in order to rebuild and stabilize terror infested areas.

He targeted Hillary as well as Thompson by referring the indefensibly low level of defense spending and high level of taxes during the Clinton presidency. "We look back on that and say no way do we want to return to the 1990s, like the Democrats do."

When reporters raised question about whether it was possible to succeed where Bush failed to win school voucher legislation, he responded" "That's what leadership is about. Leadership is about doing things that in the past other people weren't able to do." New York, he noted, had once been considered ungovernable and high crime rates and massive welfare rolls were once seen as fact of life. With Reagan-like optimism he told reporters. "We are going to lay out a vision of doing what other people think is impossible. I love that!" The immediate question is how well this message constrains the growth in support for a candidate, Fred Thompson, who has a Reagan-like appearance without much in the way of either Reagan's accomplishments as Governor of California or, like Reagan, a distinct message. But if Giuliani gets past Thompson, and if he elaborates on them plausibly over the summer, the 12 Commitments could serve him very well in the general election.