The horror of 9/11, and the unity it brought

9/11 was one of the worst things that ever happened to America, and those of us who live in the Northeast will always carry special memories of that day.

I knew ten people who died that day or lost close relatives, and my memories are nothing compared to their losses. But I remember how helpless we felt that long morning, until we located and knew our younger daughter, who worked in midtown Manhattan, was safe.

As the grandfather of twins, I remember actually feeling physical pain when I learned that 11 twins lost siblings that day.

But I also remember some wonderful things.

Members of Congress gathering on the Capitol steps to sing "God Bless America" that night.

The country and its elected representatives were coming together as we had not come together since World War II.

The next day as I drove to work there was suddenly no road rage - people honked and smiled, and flew the Stars and Stripes from their radio antennas.

Congress passed a $40 billion emergency appropriations bill that day - and passed it unanimously.

The unity would not last long, but I was there and I saw it happen.

Ten years later, I sometimes wonder if we could still come together as we did then.

To be honest, sometimes I'm not sure. But I want to believe with all my heart that we could.

[noloyalisti]

Unfortunately we had a traitorous Bush Crime Family in charge, Republicons who only care about their greedy rich campaign donors. Republicons are generally really, really bad at running the government since they hate it except for their own personal gain.

[RealiteBites]

I'm starting to question the sincerity of those profess to want unity - because first of all everybody knows it's the poll-driven talking point Barack's chosen to use to try and excuse his failures as President to engineer a lasting turnaround of the economy. And second, since it's not Democrats in Congress who stand opposed to his agenda, then aren't the cries for unity effectively a slam against Republicans?

Barack's a double-talker - maybe people don't realize they're being manipulated in that manner, but I tell you what - people who are truly in their hearts non-partisan always look at the substance of the issues, and if all of you had done that, you'd know Washington is stumped - that's why they keep falling back onto failed ideology.

Come on, you should KNOW that - the failures of the Right should be apparent to those on the left. But the failures of the left should be apparent to you on the left as well. Why else would Barack be resorting to spin to describe ANOTHER stimulus package as a 'job creation bill' - please. He's also been calling raising taxes 'raising revenue' ... that's his 'thing' ... now he's using 'unity' to attack Republicans, and I think you're all doing it too, whether you realize that's your motivation or not ...

If you just stick to the substance of the issues, you'll never be led astray ...

[Zann-Zel]

I remember that feeling of unity. Suddenly people seemed to open their eyes and SEE each other as fellow human beings, rather than enemies. They'd talk to total strangers about what we were all experiencing, the saddness, the fear & the determination not to let them win.

Its sad, that today, if our nation were attacked today, it would more likely bring a string of accusations than unity.

[endrepubs]

It really is a shame Bush was President when 9/11 happened because he received 100% support after 9/11 and he squandered it by pushing for his neo-con and personal vendetta against Saddam Hussein (who, people need to be reminded, had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. He used 9/11 for so much political and personal gain that it ruined and bankrupted a once great Nation. I blame the Supreme Court for this since Al Gore really won the election. I think too much praise was given to GW Bush Sunday for his role in holding together America during the 9/11 crisis.

[guyfrompa46]

Give it a rest. You just can't stand the fact that Bush made this country much safer and you can't admit that you voted in a moron for a president.

[endrepubs]

guyfrompa46,
No, I wont give it a rest. You are the moron for supporting the idiot Bush. I thank you and your neo con fools for the destruction of our country financially. Thank you very much.....and now you want to blame Obama for everything, who has done nothing but extend most Bush policies thereby extending the Bush mess that YOU voted for. You should be getting a bill for you portion in supporting the bankrupting of America.

[skeezix06]

That depends. When the talking heads of one of the major political parties (see Beck, Coulter, Limbaugh) and goes around talking about poisoning, hatred, and if I remember correctly shooting liberals its sort of hard for sane people to feel any unity or affinity with them.

[RealiteBites]

Competition in the marketplace of ideas is the cornerstone of democracy.

I'm not sure unity in a free, democratic, capitalistic society is actually ideal - post-9/11 it was a sign of a society who had pulled back from fully functioning as we all recovered from trauma.

Even during the good times, when Bill Clinton was balancing the budget, and the economy was flush from the internet boom, his political opponents were trying to have him impeached for lying about getting a bj from Monica.

Conversely, the lack of unity during the bad times isn't necessarily a sign that compromise will bring good things. I pointed this out in another thread the other day, that that's flawed logic - to NECESSARILY assume that just because people are ideologically opposed is a sign of intractability and that two heads are NECESSARILY better than one. Their opposition could very well be SUBSTANTIVE - Democrats are against Republican tax cuts and deregulation because Bush tried it and it failed. Republicans are against deficit spending because Obama tried it and it failed. If you do some sort of combination of the two - it's going to fail. To believe otherwise is just wishful thinking.

Come on people ... think! There's 5 components to GDP - if traditional monetary and fiscal policy isn't working, then why aren't you looking at trade??? Any economist that continues to tout the same old same old, in light of the track record of said same old same old, without looking at ALL the relevant factors, is completely remiss ...

[RealiteBites]

IE I wish Bob would spend his time wishing for SUBSTANTIVE SOLUTIONS, rather than wishing that Washington would just get along.

Because Bob's making the assumption that if everybody got along there'd be solutions - you can't assume that.

Like what Bob's really wishing for is that somebody would come up with solutions that would make things better, right? The wish isn't that Congress and Barack would get along, even if they make things worse, right? I mean like in the big picture, why would he be concerned about that?

So Bob should wish for substantive solutions - or better yet, delve himself into why there's such a lack of substantive solutions and why things haven't worked to date. You could start by looking into trade ...

[longtree-2009]

unity was very short lived. most expected a military response such as the one after pearl harbor but it never happened. there was no declaration of war, no total war, just limited war which still goes on after nearly 10 years. but it's not all republicans fault as democrats, including obama, had complete control for over two years of obama's presidency and obama and democrats did nothing but continue the limited war which continues to this very minute. today we are a more divided nation along so many lines. there is no unity and the nation flies many flags, celebrates many cultures, recognizes many ethnic holidays and etc. texas wanted to secede from the union under governor perry, it's that kind of nation, that kind of unity. non-existent for the most part.

[kenhamlett]

Maybe the way to deal with the problem is to get to the truth behind the act. We have yet to hear a credible account of who was really behind the planning, the people involved, the reason for the towers collapse or why the FBI screwed up (alternately sabotaged) every possibility of diverting this disaster and even planted evidence just for an excuse to start a war, killing many more innocent people.
If you want closure, find the real truth instead of the 9/11 commission's unbelievable report.

[1VNVet]

Obviously we have not because we have a CLOWN in office right now that does not care one bit for the American Public and has absolutely NO clue how to run this country....and I am a Democrat.

[tiredofeverything]

Yeah, and I'm the pope.

[Henri_Rochard]

We have a clown for a President now and we had one in 2001 as well.

Surely, the U.S. was a 100% unified country after being attacked on 9/11.

But this is was soon squandered with Bush's phony war against Iraq, politically-connected manufacturers' contracts for body scanners, TSA perverts fondling children's genitals, etc., etc.

Individual U.S. Citizens are still united. We're just sick and tired of getting screwed by the Dems AND Repubs in Washington, D.C.

[imnho]

It is unfortunate that instead of using the rare unity to move ahead Bush totally squandered it by questioning the loyalty of any person who suggested an alternate stradgey.

The Bush adminastration rush head long into Iraq on a flimsy pretext and cause an unecessary and costly war