9/11 Is Over, by Thomas Friedman (NYT)

September 30, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
9/11 Is Over
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Not long ago, the satirical newspaper The Onion ran a fake news story that began like this:

“At a well-attended rally in front of his new ground zero headquarters Monday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani officially announced his plan to run for president of 9/11. ‘My fellow citizens of 9/11, today I will make you a promise,’ said Giuliani during his 18-minute announcement speech in front of a charred and torn American flag. ‘As president of 9/11, I will usher in a bold new 9/11 for all.’ If elected, Giuliani would inherit the duties of current 9/11 President George W. Bush, including making grim facial expressions, seeing the world’s conflicts in terms of good and evil, and carrying a bullhorn at all state functions.”

Like all good satire, the story made me both laugh and cry, because it reflected something so true — how much, since 9/11, we’ve become “The United States of Fighting Terrorism.” Times columnists are not allowed to endorse candidates, but there’s no rule against saying who will not get my vote: I will not vote for any candidate running on 9/11. We don’t need another president of 9/11. We need a president for 9/12. I will only vote for the 9/12 candidate.

What does that mean? This: 9/11 has made us stupid. I honor, and weep for, all those murdered on that day. But our reaction to 9/11 — mine included — has knocked America completely out of balance, and it is time to get things right again.

<SNIP>

We can’t afford to keep being this stupid! We have got to get our groove back. We need a president who will unite us around a common purpose, not a common enemy. Al Qaeda is about 9/11. We are about 9/12, we are about the Fourth of July — which is why I hope that anyone who runs on the 9/11 platform gets trounced.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/opinion/30friedman.html?ref=opinion

Still, it's a pretty good read...if only as another obvious effort by Tom to "save face."

What a whiny creep he is

But if it changes someone else's mind, that's ok.

nt

make me feel any better about him at all.

but I still want to kick his butt around the block for all the other boneheaded crap he's written.

and I too still want to kick his butt. Many of us never bought into the post 9/11 idiocy. Never.

column should get a lot of attention. He's dead on.

This guy has never had an original thought in his life.

Robert Rubin is starting to rethink globalism. Expect this disaster to discover that in about four years.

What a loser.

:thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown:

This mother fucking warmonger shouldn't have a career.

That's the only good thing about him.

...this little gem jumped out at me: I will not vote for any candidate who is not committed to dismantling Guantánamo Bay and replacing it with a free field hospital for poor Cubans

Sure I want Guantanamo shut down. But I don't think it's the Cubans who need those "free field hospitals"...

What a dildo.

Vanuunu. Mordecai had revealed Israel's nuclear weapons program to the world, while also allowing the israelis to playact innocent, and to violate Italy's laws by kidnapping Mordecai, who served 18 years in jail, thus warning any other whistleblower or peacenik. Sort of 3 birds wid one stone! friedman is a punk of unusual depravity...travelling around the Arab middle east, being treated as a friend by almost everyone he met, researching his book and then returning to advocate war against them, the destruction of their nations and lying incessantly about the entire subject to what he considers a clueless public here in the west. Israel is so identified in the bible, and the entire christmas story etc, which are part of the west's self image, means that Israel's military muscle is mostly nudge wink, needed for something besides defense. And the fukker giggles at the joke (imho)...what a loathsome bastard friedman is...

He hasn't changed his anti Arab racism. Didn't he trot out the, "Until the Arabs love their children more than war...." canard recently?

of strong statements -- by people who have opposed what we've stood for -- now in agreement with a sentiment and/or goal of most of us. The more voices of reason we hear, the better. It's obvious we've not won our own war by ourselves. We need all the help we can get.

When he realizes that all of the efforts with GATT, NAFTA, CAFTA, and the WTO, etc. are just false "realities" that are structured from the Milton Friedman mindset and that there are other ways to structure the world's economy that don't promote the "race to the bottom" which he seems to characterize as the "inevitable reality" of today's world economy.

Once that happens, and he acknowledges that the world is different than what he's always proposed, we can permanently put him in the corner and get others like Naomi Klein, etc. to emerge to give us a better feeling on what we can do to keep the world's economy going well for ALL of its citizens, not just the nations' elites, and do so in a way to keep its peace and enviroment healthy as well.

the bush cabal's intent to attack Iran? I suspect it will be about 4 years after it has occurred, that seems to be his track record.

Not saying it erases the prior warmongering, but it struck me - out of all who changed tune - he's the first one to say that he contributed to knocking America off balance.
Not even candidates very praised here ever acknowledged the effects of their prior hawkiness....I would never vote for him - should he run for anything, but he still strikes me as a bit more honest than say, IWR sponsor Edwards and his "oops! - I changed my mind I hate the war now that I can't do a thing about it- but if you elect me, I won't end it before 20013"