Thursday,
March 22, 2007
Should Italian Americans Support Rudy
Giuliani's '08 Prez Campaign?
The
ANNOTICO Report
I'm
an Independent, (and a reformed Moderate Republican, and am still atoning for that
past sin), finding LIBERALs too focused on
"touchy-feely" issues, (gays, affirmative action, hug a tree, etc,
instead of Health Care, Homelessness, Poverty, Corporate Crime) and REPUBLICANs too focused on "money issues" (Heartless, Greedy , Imperialists, War Mongers
as part of the Military-Industrialist cabal, that Prez
Eisenhower warned us about ).
So
what is a person to do when faced with the prospect of a Rudy Giuliani Prez Campaign in 2008?
Shall
I go with my "What's Best for the Country" or "What's Best
for the Italian Americans"?
Being
part Jewish, hypothetically, would I vote for a Jew who was an admirer of Hamas (Wanting destruction of
Well,
I don't see a Republican being best for our Country, and I don't see Rudy
Giuliani being Good for Italian Americans.
Rudy
LOVES the Sopranos, Sings and Dances their Praises, and does not see the
terrible downside of Negative Stereotyping of Italians.
Those
actions are to the SERIOUS detriment of the Italian American Community.
On
the other hand, I have not seen ONE Thing that Rudy has done to FURTHER
the Italian American Community.
Do
we vote for an Italian American, merely because it think
it raises our Image (Does it?)
Or
do we Purposely "Spurn" him very vocally, because to say otherwise is
to CONDONE his Active support of the Sopranos, and Reward him for BOTH
(1) Negative Actions, and (2) No Actions.
If
Politicians are awarded our vote just because they swear undying
allegiance to Pasta, and are Not required to have
shown any other Contribution to the Italian American Community, they take us
for GRANTED.
And
if we Allow them to take us for granted, We DESERVE
the Inattention.
In
our Jewish Community, we have always said to Politicians: "You don't Give,
You Don't Get!!!"
RUDY Giuliani's supporters call him "
Oddly, so far in this year of ethnic- and gender-identity politics, Rudy's Italian-American heritage hasn't been much of an issue. Much more attention has gone to Hillary's "favorite daughter" campaign, Barack Obama's quest for African-American authenticity, Bill Richardson self-depiction as the first Hispanic candidate and the Mormon beliefs of Mitt Romney.
Almost nobody has
focused on Rudy as the Italian Stallion. Yet.
"Italian-Americans
aren't usually thought of as an electoral bloc," says Dr. Diane Heith, a political scientist as
Nobody even knows
how many Italian-Americans there are. The 2000 census reported almost 16
million, making them the fourth largest white ethnic group - and the only one
that experienced growth in the last decade. The National Italian American
Foundation puts the number at 25 million, close to 10 percent of the
population. Either way, it is possible that there are more Italian-American
voters than either blacks or Hispanics.
Not only that, Italian-Americans are strategically located. In four
states -
But would
Italian-American independents (or Democrats) vote for Giuliani out of ethnic
pride or solidarity? In the absence of polling data, there are informed
guesses.
"Once
Italians voted Democratic," says John Salamone,
executive director of the NIAF, a non-partisan umbrella group based in D.C.
"In recent elections, they have tended to split along the lines of the
national divide - about one third Democratic, one third Republican and one
third independent. We're a very assimilated
community."
Still, this is
the first time Italian-Americans have had a national candidate to support. As
Giuliani's candidacy has begun to take off, Salamone
has been surprised by a growing grass-roots enthusiasm. "Every day I get
calls and emails from across the country, from Republicans and Democrats. This
isn't an endorsement, but I do believe it will translate into votes."
Votes,
and also money.
Tribal giving is an American political tradition that has benefited ethnic
candidates such as John F. Kennedy, Michael Dukakis and Joe Lieberman. There is
no reason that Giuliani shouldn't get the same benefit. The finance chairman of
his political action committee, Solutions America, is Ken Langone,
a self-made billionaire from
So far, negative
media coverage of Giuliani has centered on his bad temper and
"They try
this every time," says Salamone. "They even
tried to paint Justice Samuel Alito as a guy who
might be soft on organized crime, just because he's an Italian from
Dona De Sanctis, deputy executive director of the Order Sons of
Italy in
So far,
Italian-Americans themselves don't know what to make of Giuliani's candidacy.
Some won't see it connected to them in any way. Others will be moved - and,
perhaps, find themselves surprised to be moved - by the chance to vote for one
of their own.
"There will
definitely be an Italian-American factor in this election," says Salamone. How big it is depends upon how Giuliani runs, and
how his rivals run against him. Like the campaigns of Hillary Rodham
Clinton, Barack Obama, Bill
Richardson and Mitt Romney, the Giuliani candidacy is going to tell us things
we don't really know about the real state of American political and cultural
diversity.
Zev Chafets'
latest book is "A Match Made in Heaven."
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