Giuliani Says Obama’s Words Damage US Image at Home and Abroad

Scott Olson/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani writes in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Monday that when he said last week that President Obama doesn’t love America, he “didn’t intend to question President Obama’s motives or the content of his heart.”

Giuliani continues, “My intended focus really was the effect his words and his actions have on the morale of the country, and how that effect may damage his performance.”

Giuliani has taken heat for what he admits is “blunt language” that critics charge is unfounded and disrespectful to the president although some within conservative quarters have said they agreed with the outspoken former mayor.

He explains in the WSJ, “Our leaders’ best efforts have combined intelligence, compassion, strength and perhaps most notably a strong sense of optimism. Leading this country well means being able to capture the unlimited possibilities before us,” naming former Presidents John Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton as examples.

However, Giuliani then says, “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. 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 insists that Obama is a “patriot” and “think that his personal journey is inspiring and a testament to much of what makes this country great.”

However, Giuliani further criticizes the president, remarking, “I can only be disheartened when I hear him claim, as he did last August, that our response to 9/11 betrayed the ideals of this country. When he interjected that ‘we tortured some folks,’ he undermined those who managed successfully to protect us from further attack.”

The Republican also complains that when Obama says the U.S. is no more exceptional than any other country, it demonstrates “a stark lack of moral clarity.”

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