>> i dont get it - would dinkins or say vallone/green/whoever have not been
> capable of doing what guiliani did, or not done it? <<
I've never lived in NYC and have only visited there (once by taking a wrong turn and ending up driving in downtown Manhattan at 5 in the afternoon).
I don't know. Koch would have probably run to some safe spot and proceeded to talk goofy for a long, long time. Dinkins never made enough of an impression on me (watching from afar) that I could say anything about what he would have done.
Well, in a way, Giuliani's bad luck helped him transcend his status as just another conservative American politician. NYC thumbed its nose at previous terrorism and put its emergency command center too close to the WTC--bad move that one.
Second, unlike all the other annoying people trying to get on camera (like the Gov. of NY, Senator Clinton--and wow, do Americans like to get on camera), G. was just doing his job. He's at the end of his political career because of health reasons, so he really had nothing to gain or lose by doing his job as best as he could.
Charles Jannuzi