With all due respect, I would submit that you are recasting the issue.

The thing about Rudy and 9/11 is not that he was better prepared for it than anyone else. Indeed, no one was prepared for it. Including the federal government. Furthermore, it's ridiculous to think that a Mayor should have anticipated things that the federal and state government hadn't considered vis a vis the worst potential terrorist attack in history.

Where Rudy gets, and deserves, credit is for his handling of the crisis after it happened. Unlike other major cities hit with a crisis (see, e.g., New Orleans), many of the city's major services were quickly restored. Were things done perfectly? Of course not. I don't think anyone could have dealt with something like that with perfection. However, the general consensus was that Rudy did a great job uniting the city in a time of crisis.

Now, I realize that you will quickly dredge up a partisan blog, a liberal newspaper article or a statement from a union official that disagrees with me. And, of course, there is never universal agreement on anything. But regardless it's Rudy's response to the crisis, not the idea that he should have predicted it, that made his reputation in regard to that horrible event.