9/11 | Rose On Politics

It is almost hard to believe that it has only been ten years since the events that took place on September 11^th 2001. Everyone can still remember the events like it was yesterday. Where they were, what they were doing, who they called, and particularly how horrified they were. But as Americans tried to keep pushing on with their lives so many other events took place that either reminded them of 9/11, or our leaders did not act responsibly to effectively gage the conscious of the country.

At the same time reality television was becoming popular, the best show turned out to be during the presidential election. After 9/11 America was just getting through the most contested election in its history. The Governor of Texas was accused of letting people in nursing home’s die, and there were television advertisements that accused the Vice President of selling our security to Communist China. On top of that there was an election debacle in Florida that lasted over a month. Then in a controversial ending, the Supreme Court took it upon itself to decide whose America’s next President should be. But whether you voted for George Bush or Al Gore, no one was happy with the results. During the first few months of Bush’s presidency he had almost no legitimacy and his approval ratings were already low before he was actually able to introduce any legislation or sign a bill into law. During his inauguration, he was not even able to go outside to shake people’s hands because of all the protestors.

It is hard not to blame Bush’s tenure in the White House for the situation America is in today. His approval rating was in the high ninety’s and he had the opportunity to bring the country together like he said he wanted to during his campaign. But instead, he decided to ignore the economists and media who were asking what he was going to do about a slowing economy, and took unilateral action invading Iraq and driving up America’s debt. It was the first time America went to war without raising some sort of revenue to pay for it. Plus the fact we have an all volunteer military, most American’s did not feel the effects of the war between their family or friends. It ripped another seam into the countries social fabric that only resulted in more political attacks in 2002 fueling American’s discontent with Washington.

Instead of offering a different alternative to the status quo in 2004, Democrats picked a career politician who had voted for the Iraq War. There was no reason to think anything would be different if Senator Kerry was elected President, and Karl Rove’s political games continued with the swift boat advertisements. It should not have been a surprise there were two historic elections within the next four years. The first resulted with the first ever female Speaker of the House when Democrats offered alternatives to what was coming out of the White House. Now that Democrats had a winning strategy and knew what their talking points were, it set the stage for something radical to happen. Senator Barack Obama was already known as a great orator from the speech he gave at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. But when he started talking about change in 2008 it hit the chord all American’s were looking for.

Everyone knew something different was needed, and fast, if America was ever going to feel like the country was on the right track again. Obama presented himself as a smart person who understood what many American’s were going through. He was not rich, he did not own three houses, or inherit a large sum of money. He was working just like everyone else and knew what it was like to provide for a family. During the campaign Obama presented himself as someone who would reverse the course his predecessor set the country on. But when Obama moved into the White House the change many hoped would happen turned out to be a lot harder than they thought.

Liberal bloggers wanted Obama to push for stronger policies and use the voice they heard during the campaign to push his agenda. Instead it looked as if he was willing to let Nancy Pelosi not only do the arm twisting of her caucus but also most of the talking. Many were wondering where the desire to enact new policies went, and with having control of both houses of Congress why it was so hard to do. But they also refused to believe anything but a single-payer health care system would be a win for the American people. Seeing this and other items they believed were different to what they were told put them at odds to a President they had a large part in electing. It caused strife between extreme and moderate liberals which made the media focus on the differences rather than the good things in the health care bill that was eventually passed. It also wound up digging a deeper hole in America’s confidence when it came to their elected officials.

In the mean time, Republicans continued to be the opposing party refusing to work with any Democrat to get anything done. The Tea Party scared them enough to thinking they could lose their seat if they were deemed not conservative enough. Colleagues saw their friend’s fall last year to ideological zealots who at this point only want to increase their political influence. But instead of Republicans standing up to them and acting responsibly, they embraced it. It has lead to the same political tricks Americans saw take place during the 2000 and 2004 election and left Congress unable to get anything done.

American’s knew that one man would not be able to fix all their problems when the economy crashed in 2008. In fact, most probably did not know what Barack Obama’s plan for the economy was. In his memoir Obama will probably admit he did not fully know either because events were still unfolding. But the people overwhelmingly voted for him because he said he would change the way Washington works. They were sick of people who were running for office looking out for themselves and doing whatever it takes to keep their job. Particularly now when a lot of people are having trouble finding one for themselves. That is the type of change people voted for in 2008, and unfortunately has not happened.

We keep hearing how it is going to cost Obama one billion dollars to win reelection next year and that he needs to fight the Republican caucus. So far all we have heard from the Republican presidential candidates is how Obama has failed to fix the economy. When Americans complain that nothing has changed in the past ten years, they’re talking about the rhetoric and how instead of trying to bring people together they seem to want to push them farther apart.

Ten years ago people came together. It had nothing to do with your background, income, or where you lived, it was about facing the future together. Maybe they did not know exactly what was coming, but everyone knew it would not be easy and the best way to get through it was as a team. Whether you voted Democrat or Republican it didn’t matter as long as you were an American citizen. So while Americans tried to move on, so did Washington, and the change they voted for in 2008 is still being sought.

The one thing about September 11^th 2001 I will never forget was how beautiful of a day it was. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and a breeze just when you needed it. I hope it rains on Sunday. Not because I do not want the families of 9/11 to get wet during the ceremonies, but because it would be different. Different from when the towers fell and you can smell the asbestos and smoke all around the city. Different from when the stock market had to close for the first time in its history. And different from seeing people rush to banks to get as much money out as they can.

History has a funny way of repeating itself. The event everyone compared 9/11 to was of course Pearl Harbor, which was another event that brought Americans together. People around the country did what they had to do to get things moving again. This was of course during huge political rhetoric with close elections such as 1948 (Truman), 1960 (JFK) and 1976 (Nixon). All the candidates worked hard to get their party’s nomination and then the party used any means necessary to get their candidate elected. So far, the 2012 election is looking like it will be the same old same old as well. But that does not mean it is impossible to learn from other peoples mistakes. While we cannot say a lot has changed since 9/11, one thing we can all do is take responsibility even when our politicians refuse to.

On the ninth anniversary of September 11^th 2001, the one comment I kept hearing from my friends and family was how this one seemed more stressful than in past years, and next year (the big one zero) was probably going to be worse. Maybe it was because it was the first time in eight years I was back in New York City, but I think the real reason was because the event still weighed on everyone like it was just yesterday. But on Sunday night we were able to breathe a sigh of relief. Finding and killing Osama Bin Laden was the first visible victory American’s have seen since the War on Terror began ten years ago.

Yes there was the elections that that took place in Afghanistan and Iraq. While it was a step in the right direction, those were more victories for the people of those countries to choose their future. But those governments still have not made much progress. Al Qaeda still has a major presence in Afghanistan where they are threatening those who work with the government, or what is left of the allied forces that invaded the country. Iraq has been lucky to have strong leadership by President Maliki, but they still have not figured out a way to fairly distribute the oil revenues between the rival Sunni and Shia sects. There is still a lot of work to do there and neither parliaments have been able to come together and initiate policies to help people get their people jobs or keep their children healthy.

Having spent billions of dollars on the two wars and not seeing much progress, American’s were understandably ambivalent. Gallup came out with a poll this past February showing 69 percent of American’s had an unfavorable view of Iraq, and a 64 percent had an unfavorable view of Afghanistan. At the same time, there were large majorities who believed what happens in these countries will have a large affect on America’s future. When asked “how important do you think what happens in each of the following countries is to the United States today” 52 percent said Iraq was vitally important and 51 percent said the same for Afghanistan. Only 5 percent of American’s said these countries were not important at all. America was stuck in a situation it never should have gotten into in the first place (Iraq), there were no signs it was getting better, and there weren’t any new ideas on how to get out of it.

A lot of the pundits were making fun of the college students who went outside the White House cheering “U.S.A!!” because most of them were not even old enough to remember the attacks. But the fact those students felt that relieved Osama was killed shows just how stressful these past ten years have been.

The Arab Spring taking place in the Middle East has showed the world that Al Qaeda’s ideology is not what people living in the region want. The young people in Egypt took to the streets for democracy and better economic opportunities for them and their children’s future. Then in Libya, Yemen, and Tunisia, protests broke out on main streets and main squares demanding freedom and the ability to improve their lives. Al Qaeda had nothing to do with this. It was a mass organization by the true majority in these countries that had not been listened to before. In the west, it showed us we are more alike to our eastern counterparts than we may have realized ten years ago. It was a foreign land that most American’s have never visited while only seeing the attacks in Israel, or sometimes the oppression of women on the news. But those incidences were far away, Oklahoma City was done by someone who was described as a lunatic, and the WTC bombing in 1993 was so rare no one thought it would happen again.

The death of Osama Bin Laden has lifted a tremendous amount of stress off America’s backs. With the economy is still struggling to recover, politicians arguing over pointless and minute details only so they can disagree with each other, or pundits bringing up issues that no one cares about, it is no wonder why a large number of American’s thought we were on the wrong track. No one was sure anyone in their government knew what they were doing. While Bin Laden’s death is not going to make the economy better, or end the War on Terrorism, it is the first real sign, in a long time, American’s can see that something is going right.

Unfortunately, there are so many issues that need to be dealt with right now this victory won’t last long. President Obama’s approval rating will go up (my guess: 65%), and then fall as bad economic news comes in, or as the debate to raise the debt ceiling heats up. But it is a sign we are headed in the right direction. Obama has a time table in place to remove American troops from Iraq, and this past week we saw some of the first images of the new World Trade Center being built. Dealing with so many issues at once is never a good thing, and needless to say Osama was a big issue. No one who lived that day will be able to fully move on from it, but now that the main figurehead of past decade is gone, it will be easier to enact policies that we could not before. On the tenth anniversary of 9/11 we will be able to not just remember those we have lost, but be able to take a step forward. It doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods, but we can finally start seeing through the trees.

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Ten Years After 9/11

What Bin Laden’s Death Means

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