My birthday is now eclipsed by the tragedy of 9/11, seven years ago. My older son's second day of work at a New York law firm was rocked literally by the disaster of the Twin Towers. Four planes were turned into kamikaze planes, now under the aegis of terrorists.
No one will ever know what our world would have been like under George W. if there was no 9/11. What we know is that the violence of 9/11 unleashed the irresponsible set of actions that have sent our nation into a new orbit that is perilously close to being out of control. Roger Cohen takes the liberty to cast a biblical spin on the cascading events of the last seven years.
From any vantage point, our nation is worse off. We are far from being safe. The chilling reportreport by security specialistsconfirms how inadequate our nation is prepared to prevent a disaster that would even worse than 9/11. We are no longer a role model within the international community. We not only do not lead, we resist following the leadership of others who want to deal with global warming and a more measured approach to international conflicts. And, we are now being burdened by a collapsed (collapsing?) economy whose hopes rest with the investments of other nations.
What a mess!
And to now witness the possibility that our nation will be led by someone like John McCain and Sarah Pahlin. Not only will our situation not be better, we can now fear that we will be alerted that our bombs have destroyed Iran's nuclear sites which will unwind whatever strength is left to our military capability.
To think that our nation will elect such leaders is bewildering. While I have not given up hope, I can appreciate what my adult son repeated often that I don't understand how the majority of the American public thinks. It looks like I don't and I am not sure how I will react to another Republican victory. I will be angry that the Democrats did not do what was necessary to win. And yet, I am not sure that what was necessary is consistent with either the values of Obama or myself. Apparently, you have to stop talking about issues and distort people beyond recognition. It does not matter whether there is any truth in what was said as long as it feeds a negative perception of the opponent.
Strangely enough, one virtue of being older is that I will be spared the drastic consequences of the eight years of Bush and the possible years of a McCain administration. I will never live that long and secondly, the domestic issues facing our nation, e.g., income inequality, inadequate health care for many, poor education for urban young people, will not impact me personally. I am one of those that is blessed. I just want others to share my state of affairs: education, health care, adequate income. It may be remain a dream for this nation.
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