The grand refusal of Freddy Ferrer might be a mere act of political egotism. But in saying no to Rudy Giuliani's plan he is on the side of the democratic angels.

Giuliani's plan to extend his own term by three months is bad for democracy, bad for New York and bad for the mayor. Mark Green and Michael Bloomberg have endorsed the mayor's plan, perhaps on principle, perhaps because of the arithmetic of opinion polls. Ferrer disagrees. And that disagreement is a principled act. It could cost him the nomination.

From the beginning of the emergency that began on the original Primary Day of Sept. 11, the best path for all to follow was the way of existing law. The moment the roars were heard demanding that Giuliani stay on as a kind of temporary caudillo, the mayor should have insisted that he would leave office on the last day of this year. Period. That is, he should have acknowledged the intentions — and validity — of those term-limits laws that he once endorsed, laws twice ratified by the citizens of New York.

The terrorists who caused so much death and destruction on Sept. 11 certainly had no respect for democratic processes. Neither do the Taliban, or the Islamic fundamentalists in many countries who believe that the only law is the law of God, as revealed exclusively to them. Such people hate modernity, hate its liberalism (particularly as expressed in our Constitution), hate a world of debate, skepticism and doubt. They believe that our secular democracy is a sham, starting with our electoral system. They insist that we don't mean what we say.

Mayor Has Power

In the aftermath of Ferrer's refusal, the mayor can prove them wrong by endorsing and embracing existing law. If this murderous attack had taken place before last year's presidential election — while Bill Clinton was still President — Giuliani surely would have opposed any attempt to extend the Clinton presidency by three months. So would most Democrats.

He would have opposed (as would most of us) any attempt to cancel the constitutional amendment that limits Presidents to two terms. He would have said, with all due respect in the face of national calamity, that the law is the law. We don't fight lawless men by treating existing law as mere words on paper.

Giuliani still has three months to continue his superb work, but all this talk of suspending or altering the law has already changed the fabric of New York unity. Starting four days ago, when Giuliani began in a cryptic way to encourage talk of extending his term, his every move has been perceived as political, instead of civic.

In those first days after Sept. 11, he epitomized Ernest Hemingway's definition of courage: "grace under pressure." His words matched his actions. He proved that a lame duck could fly.

Now everything has been clouded by the specter of political ambition, or worse, an egotistical belief in one's own indispensability.

We watch him now in a way that we didn't in those horrendous first days. Now we imagine the schemes, plans, slippery scenarios of the political men and women who live off him. We imagine every word or action as part of a political plan first, and a recovery plan second. Anonymous, unelected people are now working overtime to create an image of Giuliani as a Man on a White Horse, as our savior, as the only man who can lead us out of the wilderness.

We know this is rubbish, and so must Giuliani.

In a democracy, there are no indispensable men or women. In my time, I've lived through the death of Franklin Roosevelt in the midst of war, the murders of John and Robert Kennedy, Malcolm X and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the departure in disgrace of Richard Nixon, and the loss of the war in Vietnam. Democracy endured. Wounds healed, leaving inevitable scars, but scars made oddly valiant by continuity itself. And it is our national pride that — with the gigantic exception of the internment of Japanese-Americans in 1942 — we didn't suspend the Constitution to meet the crises.

Giuliani would only weaken our democracy by insisting that all laws are provisional. Now, thanks to Ferrer, he has a chance to actually strengthen that democracy, ensuring that he will always be cited as a man who placed the commonweal over personal ambition.

Lead by Example

He should order his acolytes to halt all efforts to change the rules in Albany, accept the decision of Ferrer without trying to retaliate and get on with his last three months in office. He could instantly become a true agent of democratic transition. On the day after the November election, he could immediately add the winner — Green, Ferrer or Bloomberg — to his present crisis team. He could personally guide the mayor-elect in mastering the team's operations. Through deed and word, he could symbolize the nonpartisan spirit of the crisis. Yes, he could offer to serve the city in an ongoing way, if the new mayor asks him to do so. But on Jan. 1, he should pass all executive responsibility to the freely elected next mayor of New York.

In a way, Giuliani has an even more important job to do after Jan. 1. He has a contract to write a book. In this case, it could be an extraordinary book, instead of one of those ghost-written briefs for the defense, full of evasions and deceptions, bought for a few months and forgotten. Giuliani now has a marvelous tale to tell, with a truly great third act. It would be written from the inside of a great moment of American history.

It could be a book, like the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, that endures for generations because it doesn't shrink from the truth. Including the difficult truths about himself, and his own failures along with the glittering triumphs. That book could offer details of this specific catastrophe, and also serve as a guide for conduct to those — in many cities beyond New York — who must deal with future catastrophes. That book would be read all over the world.

We don't need a panicky little legislative coup d'état in Albany. We need a style of political discourse that has been moderated by calamity. We need examples of humility and selflessness and belief in our system. In that enterprise, as he did so nobly after the ghastly morning of Sept. 11, Rudy Giuliani must lead the way.