My memories of Andrew Guiliani were of a pudgy little kid being a bit over-rambunctious at Donna Hanover’s feet during Rudy’s first inauguration as Mayor of New York.  The media tried to play it as little Andrew being cute.  I saw it as ironic, that Rudy tried to be the toughest hombre in New York but couldn’t control his own kid.

Year have passed since those playful days.  Donna’s been tossed aside for a newer model.  Rudy found out that he may have been “America’s Mayor” for his fifteen minutes after 9/11, but not even the Republicans want him to be America’s President.  And Andrew has become a young man.  Apparently an unpleasant young man.

When Newsday broke the story that Andrew had filed suit in federal court in North Carolina against Duke University for “canceling his eligibility” to play on the golf team, I felt badly for the kid.  It’s bad enough for a college kid to get thrown off the team, but to have everybody know about it is devastating.  But the details behind the Duke coach’s decision raised some old questions.

The lawsuit asserts Vincent said Guiliani, son of former New York City Mayor Rudolph Guiliani, tossed an apple at a teammate, hitting the side of his face, and that in a football game with golf teammates he “played harder than some of the other boys wanted to play.”

Included in the lawsuit is an e-mail to Guiliani from five teammates saying they no longer wanted him on the team.

“After careful consideration we have come to the unanimous decision that we wish that your involvement with the Duke Golf Team is terminated,” the e-mail says.

Too aggressive.  Violent tendencies.  Inappropriate behavior.  Doesn’t get along with others.  I wonder what caused young Andrew to behave this way?

An old saw is that if you want to know what a young woman will look like in 20 years, look at her mother.  It is similarly true for a young man, except as to his attitude and behavior.  Andrew Guiliani grew up cursed by a father whose success came by his overly-aggressive, usually inappropriate behavior.  It’s not that he is forced to suffer the consequences of his father’s mistakes, but that he has learned how to behave by emulating Rudy.  That’s usually the case for young men.  But unlike Rudy, who managed to situate himself in a place where his inappropriate behavior was hidden behind a prosecutor’s mantle, Andrew’s was exposed on the fairway. 

And like his famous father, Andrew appears to have taken no responsibility for his behavior.  A sincere apology and promise to behave more thoughtfully would have likely been sufficient to avoid being thrown off the golf team.  Instead, he sued:

“I just want to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else,” Guiliani said.

Not much of a reason, since Rudy doesn’t have any other children.

The questions raised by Andrew’s ouster from the Duke golf team really aren’t about Andrew at all.  Granted, at 22, he’s old enough to recognize that he needs to get along with others, even in golf, if he wants to be accepted as part of a team.  But the lessons he learned in how to do so were at the knee of Rudy many years before. 

What we see is the real Rudy, the inside as shown through the prism of Andrew, without the handlers and PR shills covering up Rudy’s ugly persona, sans comb-over, to make him more appealing to voters.  Rudy’s son has grown up just like him, which reminds me of a song.