Our Best Bet to Protect America

OUR BEST BET TO PROTECT AMERICA

By RUDOLPH GIULIANI
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November 1, 2004 -- PRESIDENT Bush de serves to be re- elected, for many reasons.
The economic downturn that he inherited has been reversed and his tax cuts have allowed the private sector to create jobs and put money to work. His focus on education led to the bipartisan passage of the No Child Left Behind standards that have improved schools nationwide.

His many hopes are backed with clear plans for our future, including further improvements to America's economy, education, health care and the legal system, and to do so in a way that continues to restore the Oval Office with the dignity it deserves.

But as a New Yorker, an American, a believer in the power of liberty — and as a father — I think the most important reason to re-elect the president is that he is the candidate best able to protect American from those who seek to harm us.

With a single stunning speech, delivered on Sept. 20, 2001 to a united American public and both houses of Congress, President Bush reversed 30 years of inconsistent and dangerously inadequate response to terrorism. He announced the Bush Doctrine — that this nation would no longer only play defense, passively awaiting the next terrorist strike but would go on the offensive.

Instead, we have dismantled an entire national incubator for global terrorism, arrested hundreds of imminent actors here and abroad, foiled several looming attack plans and removed from power a dictator who not only murdered thousands of his own people, but stood as a sponsor and symbol of world destabilization.

Regardless of the outcome of this election, for his swift, decisive, unwavering — and right — reaction to the greatest attack in American history, George W. Bush has earned a place as one of our greatest presidents.

With much left to accomplish, we owe it to America to re-elect President Bush.