Yesterday I had heard Rudy would be addressing a question about reports that his 17-year-old daughter prefers Democratic senator Barack Obama – or, more specifically, he expected to get a question on it during the press availability and that some response would be forthcoming then.

Well, here’s the response: Rudy said “I think children in situations like this deserve to have the maximum degree of privacy… And the best way to preserve that is — except to point out that you love them and care about them and you’re very, very proud of them — just don’t comment about it.”

Meanwhile, his son Andrew Giuliani told ABC News his relationship with his dad is not as bad as press accounts make it sound..What to make of all this? Well, in a perfect world, a man who’s been named Time magazine’s Man of the Year could also be named Father of the Year. But this isn’t a perfect world. Ronald and Nancy Reagan had a famously rocky relationship with their children during his presidency, only growing closer after he left office.. It isn’t quite none of our business – I’m sure many people look at a man’s relationship with his family as a key measure of his character – but even a family in the public eye like the Giulianis have a certain zone of privacy worth respecting. Every family goes through rough times; those of us on the outside can hope the Giulianis can get through these.