Maybe Not Tough Enough to Stand Up to Terrorists

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani interrupted his speech to the NRA to take a cell phone call from his current wife, Judith. He left his audience sitting there listening to him take the call. Some suggested it was a bizarre stunt of some kind. Then other reports of the same type of behavior surfaced. People would pay $1,000 a head to be with Guiliani at an event. Then his wife would call on the cell ten minutes after he got there, and he would disappear for the duration of the event taking the call. The evidence suggests that when Rudy's wife calls he will stiff everyone else and take the call. And Guiliani, if you believe his spin-meisters, is supposed to be a "tough guy".

Fred Thompson is another one who is supposed to be the Alpha-male type. And yet, he has already gone through three campaign managers. At least one of them came outright and said that the reason he left is that the candidate's wife was calling the shots. That would be Jerri Thompson, a person of little prior experience or accomplishment in managing political campaigns.

On the other hand, Texas Congressman Ron Paul is NOT supposed to be a tough guy. Some of the more virulent critics even revile him off as a weak man, a craven appeaser. And yet, Ron Paul does not let his wife of 50 years run his campaign. He does not jump every time she calls on the cell phone. In fact, the day of the Iowa Straw Poll his wife collapsed and was sent to the hospital where she was given a pacemaker. Dr. Paul did not skip the event to be at her bedside-he was at the Straw Poll.

I imagine I will take some heat for being blunt enough to say what most men (and many traditional women) would only think about these incidents, but Guiliani and Thompson seem to be inordinately controlled by their wives. I think this is because both men led lives that were personally immoral in their conduct with the opposite sex prior to their current marriages. Because of that, it would be understandable if their current wives were somewhat less trusting of their spouses than is Mrs. Paul of hers. Judith Guiliani may well throw a fit if Rudy Guiliani fails to answer her calls because in the back of her mind she has doubts about what he might be up to. Mrs. Paul is secure in her position and in her husband's devotion. This frees him to do his duty to the campaign (and perhaps later the country) even if she is in the hospital. She understands and supports her husband.

I believe that Americans must let go of their superficial ideas about what a strong man is. Staying faithful to, and keeping happy, the same woman for 50 years is a sign of strength. Spending decades of one's life chasing loose women around or developing a pattern of betraying one's spouse is a sign of weakness. Those men are not even dealing with their own wives from a position of strength and moral authority. For the many threats facing America today, we need a strong man, not strutting, tough-talking Hollywood strong man, but a real strongman. That starts with one who has ruled himself well. We have some wanna-be tough guys braying about how they will stand up to "the terrorists", maybe I would be more convinced if they were not intimidated by their wives.