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Mon 1 Oct, 2007 09:49 am
September 30, 2007
New York Times Op-Ed Columnist
9/11 Is Over
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Not long ago, the satirical newspaper The Onion ran a fake news story that began like this:
"At a well-attended rally in front of his new ground zero headquarters Monday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani officially announced his plan to run for president of 9/11. ?'My fellow citizens of 9/11, today I will make you a promise,' said Giuliani during his 18-minute announcement speech in front of a charred and torn American flag. ?'As president of 9/11, I will usher in a bold new 9/11 for all.' If elected, Giuliani would inherit the duties of current 9/11 President George W. Bush, including making grim facial expressions, seeing the world's conflicts in terms of good and evil, and carrying a bullhorn at all state functions."
Like all good satire, the story made me both laugh and cry, because it reflected something so true ?- how much, since 9/11, we've become "The United States of Fighting Terrorism." Times columnists are not allowed to endorse candidates, but there's no rule against saying who will not get my vote: I will not vote for any candidate running on 9/11. We don't need another president of 9/11. We need a president for 9/12. I will only vote for the 9/12 candidate.
What does that mean? This: 9/11 has made us stupid. I honor, and weep for, all those murdered on that day. But our reaction to 9/11 ?- mine included ?- has knocked America completely out of balance, and it is time to get things right again.
It is not that I thought we had new enemies that day and now I don't. Yes, in the wake of 9/11, we need new precautions, new barriers. But we also need our old habits and sense of openness. For me, the candidate of 9/12 is the one who will not only understand who our enemies are, but who we are.
Before 9/11, the world thought America's slogan was: "Where anything is possible for anybody." But that is not our global brand anymore. Our government has been exporting fear, not hope: "Give me your tired, your poor and your fingerprints."
You may think Guantánamo Bay is a prison camp in Cuba for Al Qaeda terrorists. A lot of the world thinks it's a place we send visitors who don't give the right answers at immigration. I will not vote for any candidate who is not committed to dismantling Guantánamo Bay and replacing it with a free field hospital for poor Cubans. Guantánamo Bay is the anti-Statue of Liberty.
Roger Dow, president of the Travel Industry Association, told me that the United States has lost millions of overseas visitors since 9/11 ?- even though the dollar is weak and America is on sale. "Only the U.S. is losing traveler volume among major countries, which is unheard of in today's world," Mr. Dow said.
Total business arrivals to the United States fell by 10 percent over the 2004-5 period alone, while the number of business visitors to Europe grew by 8 percent in that time. The travel industry's recent Discover America Partnership study concluded that "the U.S. entry process has created a climate of fear and frustration that is turning away foreign business and leisure travelers and hurting America's image abroad." Those who don't visit us, don't know us.
I'd love to see us salvage something decent in Iraq that might help tilt the Middle East onto a more progressive pathway. That was and is necessary to improve our security. But sometimes the necessary is impossible ?- and we just can't keep chasing that rainbow this way.
Look at our infrastructure. It's not just the bridge that fell in my hometown, Minneapolis. Fly from Zurich's ultramodern airport to La Guardia's dump. It is like flying from the Jetsons to the Flintstones. I still can't get uninterrupted cellphone service between my home in Bethesda and my office in D.C. But I recently bought a pocket cellphone at the Beijing airport and immediately called my wife in Bethesda ?- crystal clear.
I just attended the China clean car conference, where Chinese automakers were boasting that their 2008 cars will meet "Euro 4" ?- European Union ?- emissions standards. We used to be the gold standard. We aren't anymore. Last July, Microsoft, fed up with American restrictions on importing brain talent, opened its newest software development center in Vancouver. That's in Canada, folks. If Disney World can remain an open, welcoming place, with increased but invisible security, why can't America?
We can't afford to keep being this stupid! We have got to get our groove back. We need a president who will unite us around a common purpose, not a common enemy. Al Qaeda is about 9/11. We are about 9/12, we are about the Fourth of July ?- which is why I hope that anyone who runs on the 9/11 platform gets trounced.
Re: Tom Friedman: Giuliani - 9/11 is over
BumbleBeeBoogie wrote:9/11 has made us stupid.
oh yeah. stupid and insane.
Rudy's had over 40 speeches interrupted by phone calls in the last two years.
Someone ought to drop him a line, eheh, that he should turn the damn thing off!
Cycloptichorn
I can agree with your main thrust. We have become "mindlocked" over the 9/11 tragedy. Our present Administration has done some extraordinarily stupid things in the effort to wreak retribution for the incident. Apparently the general population has noticed this also.
Having said that, I do note, that when the incident was recent in memory, neither the Congress nor the general population put up much protest over proposed actions that same Administration proposed. Ah, but memories, particularly in Congress, are mercifully short. :wink:
Yeah, let's get out of this 9/11 mindset and get on with other problems this nation faces. I give only one rejoiner while we "carry on": "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it."
Halfback
the thing is, some of the problems we need to face are due to the "solutions" to 9/11. we need to reverse the patriot acts, and we need to put an end to state-sponsored torture (mostly of people who haven't been charged with, let alone found guilty of a crime!) and restore habeas corpus.
there are other things that need to be changed back, that were easy to pull off while everyone was busy wandering about mouths agape, not knowing what to say as the country was dismantled. and since the election sphincter has been torn wider and wider since the 2000 election, we need to mend that, or politicians will be able to steal every two out of three elections for the rest of time.
I can agree with most of that. The Bill of Rights have been upended and I don't like to see that, at all. So remedy all that and you have my support.
The last bit, about stolen elections.... quit whining, it's over and done with. We just work to make sure elections are tightened up to the point that the like never happens again. There's your solution.
Halfback
Quote:The last bit, about stolen elections.... quit whining, it's over and done with. We just work to make sure elections are tightened up
i wasn't whining about the past, i was making note of it. of course the only reason i made the point was for the future's sake- i wasn't trying to change the past. given your reply, we obviously agree on what should (generally) be done in future elections.
I apologize. Too many times over the past number of years I have been treated to bombast about how the Republicans "stole" the election, etc. Got a bit tired of hearing it. Got one shelling from my sister even!
If there were ANY justification to that charge you had better believe the more vocal and liberal of our media would have been ALL over it, like flies on a C-Rat can.
As it stands, the phrase has become more of a battle cry or urban legend. :wink:
We do agree on tightening the election process. Electronics are prone to tampering, as are pencil and paper ballots. "Lost" ballot boxes and other possible fraudulent actions are onother area of concern. Citizen identity is beginning to be a problem also. Too many problems, too little time to solve!
Perhaps more severe prison sentences for proven election fraud might be a step in the right direction. Perhaps fines in proportion to seriousness for election administrators who "loose" ballots, boxes, election computers, etc. (???) Something!
Halfback
you're going to likely think this is nuts, naive, or both, but i think it's a cultural problem.
we have the means to change things. granted, it would be difficult, and once anything becomes politically difficult, it tends to strain the credulity of the general population... after all, we're supposed to be in a free country. if it's difficult to believe there is a problem in the first place, it must be even more difficult to care enough to change it.
i think if the masses really cared about the election process, or even about politics, we'd find the means for accurate elections overnight.
i don't think most people in america care about either. in fact, many denounce politics itself, blissfully unaware that doing so is taking a very political stand... not to mention they tend to support whoever is in power, as if that isn't political.
as for the people that think they care, they astound me. they walk around with clipboards and ask me to sign things. who is going to read them? petitions are very nice and all, but when the constitution is flushed down the toilet, try finding people to protest it. we don't want politics, we seem to prefer to go liberate things. our election system almost seems like a product of this set of priorities. we need a different set of them, i don't think we can get that from fines.
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