A statesman and a poseur.

I was watching some of the coverage of the 9/11 memorials yesterday and saw something that really spoke volumes to me about why America is in the state she is in today.

Before I get to that I want to think for a bit about what happened on 9/11 ten years ago, and how our country has changed since then.

Ten years ago, yesterday, a group of 19 Muslim terrorists hijacked 4 planes using box cutters and knives as weapons, and flew three of those planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The fourth plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania when the passengers attempted to retake control of the plane.

We all know the stories of heroism, of horror and of loss of life. We all understand that nearly 3,000 people died that day for no other reason than they were peacefully going about their daily business.

We have remembered the horror and tragedy of this day in America’s history for ten years…and yet, the horror remains.

On that day ten years ago, America awoke to the realities of the real world. No longer could she and her people believe they were insulated from the evils of this world. No longer could we live our lives blissfully ignorant of the fact that people out there hate us….that people within our own borders hate us….that people all around us could be the next ones to go Muslim extremists on us and cut our throats for being infidels.

Do they hate us?

I don’t think so….they certainly don’t know us well enough to harbor that type of emotion. I believe what they hate is what we stand for. We stand for a loving God, a God who wants us to be the best we can be. We stand for freedom and individual rights. We stand for progress and education.

They stand for a jealous God who is a figment of a mad man’s imagination, a God for whom all manner of atrocities are but a means to an end. That end being the total annihilation of everybody who refuses to believe in that fake God. They stand for a culture unable to break out of the Stone Age. They stand for enslavement to a set of moral rules that deny humanity. They stand for the enslavement of women and the abuse of children.

It is no wonder they hate what we desire, what we strive for.

Since that day when the ache of loss was heavy in our hearts, we have been called to a new sort of patriotism. A patriotism that puffs out its chest and says America cannot be broken. A patriotism that is visible mostly in the brave men and women who are willing to give their lives for this country.

But what of the rest of us?

What have we really learned?

We have allowed the fear of terrorism to change the way we go about our daily lives. Rather than protect our borders we allow them to remain a free route into the country, while we stand in line to be groped by the TSA before flying.

We have allowed our country to be reliant on oil from those countries that despise us, while our own oil reserves remain in the ground for fear of endangering some rare species of frog, or tortoise or moth or bug.

We have allowed our unions to increase the benefits paid to its members to such an extent that it has continued to drive jobs overseas to lower cost countries.

We have allowed our politicians to cater to the demands of the left and move this country inexorably toward the oblivion that socialism creates.

We have become so concerned with not offending anyone, even our enemies that we refuse to call terrorists what they are, but rather call those that would see the return of constitutionally driven government terrorists.

WE printed money to devalue the greenback. We have borrowed from other countries to provide benefits to those that are too lazy to support themselves.

We have given credence to a jobs program that includes in its number an extension of unemployment benefits!

What do these things have to do with the 9/11 aftermath, you may ask?

Well…these things have all continued since 9/11. They have not changed. The very things that weakened America and made her vulnerable to the attacks of 9/11 continue to this day.

I go back to my earlier question? What about the rest of us?

There is no doubt that our armed forces have remained brave and staunchly defending the United States, ready for whatever comes.

I wish I could say the ordinary man and woman in the street can say the same. Unfortunately, we have become a nation of cowards, afraid to raise our hands and say…WE…are the Americans you should fear….WE will not sit by and watch you destroy this great country.

It is so easy to say that when talking about a faceless enemy far from our shore….an enemy that our soldiers will deal with. It is easy to say that when the fervor of patriotism demands it in the hours and days following an event like 9/11. It is easy to shout words and salute the flag.

And then go about our daily business the next day with nary a thought about the evils of this world.

So yeaterday, as I watched some of the coverage on TV, I saw something that astounded me.

I saw George and Laura Bush walking with Barack and Michelle Obama. They were by the new memorial at the place where the twin towers once stood.

The Bush’s walked demurely, their faces showing the pain they felt on that day. The Obama’s were hand-in-hand, almost skipping as they would on a walk in the park on a nice spring day, their faces showing no sign of the magnitude of the moment.

As all four reached the wall with the inscribed names of the victims, George Bush hung his head in a solemn and dignified quiet moment. In counterpoint, Barack Obama glanced down for a second, then quickly looked to his left, then to his right, his eyes scanning, seeking searching….finally finding the camera, he bowed his head for a short second before looking up and checking that the camera had not relocated.

Meanwhile, George Bush stood silently contemplating what was. His body language was such that it ignored the cameras, ignored the farce going on beside him, and his face showed the pain he shared with the mourners gathered there.

One a statesman, the other a poseur.

That is what is wrong with America today.

I do not think Bush did everything right, but I think he did a good job for most of his Presidency. Just a few months into his first term and he became a war time President. He worked with the hand he was dealt. Did he make mistakes? Of course he did!

ON the other hand Obama is into his 32^nd month and still blames his predecessor for the state of the Union.

One is a statesman. The other a poseur.

So, when the poseur-in-chief acts this way, is it any wonder that liberals think the way Paul Krugman of the New York Times thinks when he writes…

“Is it just me, or are the 9/11 commemorations oddly subdued?

Actually, I don’t think it’s me, and it’s not really that odd.

What happened after 9/11 — and I think even people on the right know this, whether they admit it or not — was deeply shameful. The atrocity should have been a unifying event, but instead it became a wedge issue. Fake heroes like Bernie Kerik, Rudy Giuliani, and, yes, George W. Bush raced to cash in on the horror. And then the attack was used to justify an unrelated war the neocons wanted to fight, for all the wrong reasons.

A lot of other people behaved badly. How many of our professional pundits — people who should have understood very well what was happening — took the easy way out, turning a blind eye to the corruption and lending their support to the hijacking of the atrocity?

The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it.

I’m not going to allow comments on this post, for obvious reasons.”

Mr. Krugman, the only people acting badly ten years on are you and your like minded idiot leftist cowards.

You may not accept comments “for the obvious reasons”…but that is simply a signature of cowards such as yourself.

But you are n good company, sir. Your President also clearly feels that the events of 9/11 are of no value except for providing an opportunity to seek and find the TV camera’s.

I noticed Obama wore a lapel pin of the US flag yesterday.

I would have been happier had he refused to wear it instead of being the hypocritical coward he is showing the world.

With a leader like him, is it any wonder that we spend endless days and nights preparing for the next attack?

Do you feel safer with this idiot at the helm?

…..devereaux