Yesterday marked the eighth year anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. Today marks the eighth anniversary of 9-12-2001, a day equally important in the history of the United States. It was on that day that a president who initially hesitated several minutes in reacting to the terrorist attack found the courage and the clarity to recognize and explain the world we live in: there exists evil in the world and we must confront it. It was on that day that we understood that nations can either be with us or against us because the mission of America is not to reshape the world in our image, but rather to allow nations to coexist, trade, and prosper in peace. We have a Freedom doctrine, that is undeniable, but that is because it is the truly free nations in this world that shy away from war because when the destructive wishes of some demagogue emerge in society, only the free exercise of speech allow reason to prevail. I have read articles that make these arguments, grounded in real life experience here in America, sound plain old stupid. I guess some people believe that the dreams that founded America are stupid. Good thing that one of those dreams is the freedom of speech.

Specifically, I refer to this article on the Associated Press where the author explains that now Obama has the bullhorn on 9-11, not Bush. This brings to mind an alternate scenario where instead of having Bush as president we would have had Obama. According to the article, Obama released a statement right after the attacks where he talked about improving security, “understanding the sources of such madness,” and about the “fundamental absence of empathy on the part of the attackers.” What immediately bothers me about Obama’s statement after 9-11 was the fact that he immediately empathized with the attackers, writing that poverty and despair was part of the reasons they did this and saying that they need more empathy. So imagine what a president Obama would have done on 9-12-2001. First of all, some sort of military response would have been necessary, Americans would not allow this to go unanswered. After that initial response, which most probably would not have been as robust as Bush’s response, what would he have done to improve empathy among the attackers? Would he go ahead and give a speech to the Muslim world? Would he try to dialogue with Osama bin Laden? Would he start spending billions more on alleviating poverty abroad, money that probably would end up in the hands of corrupt governments, dictators, and the very terrorists that struck us eight years ago? If Obama were president on that fateful day, we know that today Al Qaeda would be a powerful organization, that they would still have a safe haven, and that instead of two nuclear programs today, we would have had three to contend with. My more liberal friends may want to dispute that, but looking at the evidence, it is clear. Bush needs to be applauded for one thing, something that most people in their everyday lives should be doing more often, he did what he thought was right regardless of his popularity. Day after day, he received terrorist warning after terrorist warning, deciding on which ones were credible and which ones were not, knowing full well that a single terrorist attack on American soil after 9-11 would sink his presidency and kill innocent Americans. Imagine the pressure. On the other hand, Obama cares about his popularity. Just think about how he has reversed course on many decisions, from appointing a communist as his Green Economy Czar then firing him to removing the flag@whitehouse.gov snitch email program. Obama always has been a political animal, flashing a smile, talking softly, lying to our faces, and trying to create socialism under our noses. Bush was much more direct and much more clear in his actions.

So when the liberal terrorist apologists say that we need to empathize more with Osama bin Laden, set them straight: America cannot negotiate with terrorists. An empathetic president on 9-12 would have been a national disaster. In the words of Rudy Giuliani “thank God George Bush… [was] President.” The world today is not so different from the world before 9-11, except for one major difference: America is vigilant. Right now, more than 60% of Americans believe that Obama can keep us safe from terrorists (by being nice to them?) when the reality is that only the residual effects of Bush’s anti-terror policies can keep the enemy at bay: a strong intelligence agency, an offensive campaign, and cracking down on terrorist finances. Obama would have us think that we can talk to the enemy and they will willingly abandon their plans to destroy America. The only people who benefit from a worldview that refuses to acknowledge the existence of evil are those who are evil. The only people who benefit from a policy of playing nice with our enemies are our enemies. It is useful to reflect on our own actions, to admit excesses, and to apologize for missteps, no nation is perfect, but it borders on treasonous to adopt the views and philosophies of terrorists who kill thousands of innocents to make their point. Terrorists want us to empathize with them… Barack Hussein Obama is their biggest success story.

-AG