Sept. 11 pushes aside partisan politics
The Traveler Editorial Board
Issue date: 9/10/08 Section: Opinion
Have we moved on? If so, what have we moved on to?
"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure," Lincoln said in that same Gettysburg Address.
And so we are. The war in Iraq was not the only war to ensue after the Sept. 11 attacks. Internal divisions over that war and the other issues that face the nation - the economy, illegal immigration and global warming, among others - quickly embroiled U.S. politicians and citizens in their own civil war of partisan politics. Those same politicians and citizens who rallied behind the heroes of Sept. 11 reverted to petty criticisms of each other's policies and personal characteristics.
But, tomorrow, neither the McCain campaign nor the Obama campaign will run television advertising critical of the other. Tomorrow, members of the group MyGoodDeed, a nonprofit group created "to remember and rekindle the remarkable spirit of unity that existed in our nation in the days following Sept. 11," will perform acts of community service "to pay tribute to the many who aided in the rescue and recovery efforts." Tomorrow, we can, too. Let's.
"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure," Lincoln said in that same Gettysburg Address.
And so we are. The war in Iraq was not the only war to ensue after the Sept. 11 attacks. Internal divisions over that war and the other issues that face the nation - the economy, illegal immigration and global warming, among others - quickly embroiled U.S. politicians and citizens in their own civil war of partisan politics. Those same politicians and citizens who rallied behind the heroes of Sept. 11 reverted to petty criticisms of each other's policies and personal characteristics.
But, tomorrow, neither the McCain campaign nor the Obama campaign will run television advertising critical of the other. Tomorrow, members of the group MyGoodDeed, a nonprofit group created "to remember and rekindle the remarkable spirit of unity that existed in our nation in the days following Sept. 11," will perform acts of community service "to pay tribute to the many who aided in the rescue and recovery efforts." Tomorrow, we can, too. Let's.
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