Deep Breath, Deep Thought 
before Deep Plunge 

The title is another way of saying what we have already read:  the more important a decision, the more time we should take in making it. 

Recently, the news media brought to line that one of Mayor Giuliani’s children was supporting U.S. Senator Barak Obama.  Giuliani and Obama have said that they would be candidates for the Presidency in 2008. 

Why should Giuliani’s daughter’s preference be news?  Could it be that the news media are catering (pandering?) to our desire for a quick decision?  There are so many candidates, and we do want a quick way to pick our favorites, right? 

Are we being honest with ourselves by seeking a quick way to make a weighty decision?  More fundamentally, is it a valid criterion to judge a candidate through his or her family’s allegiance to him?  Take a look at this: 

...Social networks and the preferences and decisions made through them [for example, Giuliani’s daughter’s support for Obama] are going to be interpreted by a country deeply divided about many issues as evidence that can be used in making a decision about the candidate’s ability to lead. There is a stupid idea that if a candidate can’t make their kids cooperate with them, they can’t lead the country or a county or even the dog pound.  

In fact, the kids’ opinions are their own and shouldn’t be a faithful reproduction of their candidate parent’s.  It would be downright unnatural if families didn’t evolve their political opinions.  We should leave them to have those opinions without turning it into a national issue, though we won’t as long as social networks treat personal data and preferences as a binary all-or-nothing act of publication. ...

“Social Networks:  Giuliani's Family Network Exposes Inherent Weakness”, Mitch Ratcliff, August 7, 2007  

It is natural, more so in a country like ours which favors and savors individual opinion, for members of a family to have different views.  However, when members of a family are divided because of the candidate parent’s character, I pause, because I do not know that a private Dr. Jekyll can be kept separate from a public Mr. Hyde.  I would like to know whether Giuliani’s daughter differed from him because of his character, which I would find more significant than his stand on issues.  

If you answer the multiple-choice questions below and e-mail to lessonanswers@mymontebello.com with “Lesson answers” in the subject field, you will be credited toward a “certificate of recognition in community affairs” to be awarded in 2007 by a local nonprofit organization.  

1.    Richard Giuliani, former New York mayor who is running for President,

(a)   should not be concerned over his daughter’s support for Barak Obama.

(b)   should be concerned because American’s judge a candidate on his public and personal life. 

2.    It is appropriate to for us to consider a candidate’s personal life

(a)   if a strong argument could be made that his personal life would affect his effectiveness as a decision-maker for us. 

(b)   at no time, as many great leaders have had awkward, if not scandalous, personal episodes.  

August 23, 2007