North Star Writers Group

Presidential campaign time is upon us once again, and that means politically-motivated references to 9/11 – and to which candidate or party will best protect the nation from a tragic repeat – abound. Last time around, in 2004, our current president ran on a platform of being more up to the task of protecting America than his Democratic rival, Sen. John Kerry. Obviously, and unfortunately, this tactic was successful, and in these early stages of the 2008 election, Rudy Giuliani is already following in President Bush’s cleverly calculated footsteps.

Giuliani, former New York mayor and king of 9/11 references, warned on April 24 at a Republican dinner in New Hampshire that if a Democrat wins the White House in 2008, America would shift from an offensive stance against terrorism to a dangerously defensive one. Because Democrats are more flexible when it comes to security measures such as interrogation, electronic surveillance, and, oh, one day ending the seemingly endless war in Iraq, Giuliani warns that having one in office will lead to America reverting to our “pre-September 11 mentality of being on the defense.”

At the first Democratic debate of the 2008 election season, Giuliani’s comments became a talking point, with front-runners Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards agreeing that Giuliani’s comments were “divisive” to a country already divided as a result of the current administration. Sen. Obama said it best when he countered that Giuliani was taking “the politics of fear to a new low.”

Giuliani also asserted that, with a Democrat at the helm, the war in Iraq would end up being longer and more costly in terms of American lives lost. So, the party that – as evidenced by the Democratic-controlled Senate passing a war-funding bill that includes a deadline for pulling our soldiers out of Iraq – wants the war to end, will actually cause the war to go on longer. Meanwhile, our Republican administration wants nary a hint of a possible end to this long road of war.

Vice President Dick Cheney weighed in on the war-funding bill at a political fundraiser in Tulsa, Oklahoma, predictably peppering his speech with 9/11 references. “It's impossible to argue that an unconditional timetable for retreat could serve the security interests of the United States,” Cheney said, adding later that he wonders if current Democratic leaders “fully appreciate the nature of this danger that the country faces in the war on terror.” Ah, the politics of fear at its finest.

It’s time for the president and his administration, as well as those vying for his position, to stop capitalizing on the fears created by 9/11 for political gain. These fears are the reason we are at war right now, why President Bush is still our leader, and why speaking out against the two is criticized as simultaneously unpatriotic to America and supportive of the terrorists. Politicians need to move forward, away from 9/11 references unless they are speaking in terms of concrete lessons that will better protect us, rather than in abstract terms of which candidate will better lead us solely on the merit of his political affiliation. Yes, Rudy Giuliani happened to be the mayor of New York City when tragedy befell that day, but this does not automatically anoint him as the best candidate to fight terrorism. It must also be noted that 9/11 happened under the noses of both Giuliani and Bush, yet both want us to believe that only they are qualified to protect us. The American people need a fresh perspective, not another backwards-thinking politician.

Jon Stewart, on his nightly program “The Daily Show”, poked fun at Giuliani by showing a satirical image of the Giuliani equivalent of Sen. John McCain’s Straight Talk Express bus – a gleaming red fire truck painted to read “I was mayor of New York City on September 11^th.” Giuliani’s platform is already becoming transparent, even this early in the game. He surely made no attempt to conceal his intentions when he declared in New Hampshire, "I want to be your president because I think I understand (the threat of terrorism) at least as well as anyone else and I think better than most.” At the Democratic debate, Obama argued that America would see through Giuliani’s rhetoric that only a Republican can protect us. Let’s hope he’s right, because in 2004 the majority of America believed that same hype. To use an old cliché, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

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