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In October of 2004, I had the following piece forwarded to the John Kerry campaign by a contact I then had who had access to it's inner circles. It was my proposal for the theme Kerry should have ended his campaign on in the closing week before the election. She in fact forwarded it to John Kerry's team more than once and advocated for using it, but it never was. I wrote this as a speech tht Kerry could have delivered, though in my wildest dreams I never thought it would get used intact. Still, I felt had Kerry driven home a point similar to this, using whatever words he chose, it would have served both him and our nation well back then.
Once again we are revisiting the national trauma of 9/11, and once again we are in the midst of a tight race for the Presidency And once again the Republican party, this time under John McCain, is attempting to win by using ugly and divisive tactics. For that reason I am finally publishing this now, four years later, word for word as I first wrote it then:
"None of us will forget the horror that befell our
nation on September 11th, 2001. Nor will we allow the
evil that brought us that horror to survive long in
this world. Our calling is clear, our cause is just,
our efforts are untiring. We, the citizens of
America, working together with friends from around the
world, will exterminate those who massacre civilians
to further extremist ends.
Many of our finest were taken from us on that fateful
day, each of us was touched, and none of our lives
will ever be the same because of it. But as indelible
as 9/11 has become, it is just as important that
America remember 9/12 also, for that was the start of
America rising, and God willing, we will never be
reduced again to the shallowness and separateness that
passed for our patriotism on September 10th.
Something great stirred on 9/12, a feeling grew, a
belief spread, gathering intensity in the hours, days
and weeks that followed. It was a belief in one
another, a belief in the bonds that make us
indivisible, rooted together in a land we mutually
love, sharing similar dreams and a common destiny. It
was a coming together of America, and a putting aside
of our differences.
I remember the America of September 10th. Our
politics were partisan and bitter, after one of the
closest fought elections in American history. We
Americans seemed to travel in separate circles, using
caricatures as images of those whose lives differed
from our own. Rich poor, young old, liberal
conservative, all of us increasingly defined by
differences too numerous to count. Looking back now
one cleavage stands out starkly, two contrasting
caricatures that kept millions apart. I remember New
Yorkers joking that civilization stopping at the
Hudson, until you reached Las Vegas. I remember
Midwesterners joking that civility must be illegal in
Manhattan.
And then came 9/11, when terrorist piloted planes
brought down the World Trade Center. But more then
two towers fell on that day, the walls dividing
Americans crumbled just as surely. Suddenly all of us
felt our kinship with New Yorkers as they became our
heroes, a city mobilized to rescue the wounded, care
for the shattered, and recover the dead. Back in
Oklahoma, the conservative heartland of America,
families who once suffered a similar fate rallied for
a second time, offering strength, wisdom, aid and
comfort to fellow Americans in New York, men and women
they had never met, but who they now knew intimately.
The same flag, the American flag, flew on every
street,in the smallest of villages and the largest of
cities, across this nation, as thousands lined up to
give their blood, Millions offered their prayers, and
everyone gave whatever they could to the victims of a
now common tragedy. We all stood united on 9/12. In
Washington D.C., site of another grievous loss,
Democrats and Republicans, frequent and recent
opponents, joined together on the Capitol Steps, and
pledged bipartisan cooperation. As much as 9/11
showed us Americas vulnerability, 9/12 showed us
Americas strength.
September the 12th seems all but forgotten today, our
nation rife with division again after nearly three
years of bitter partisanship. But America rose on
9/12, and none of us who lived through the common
resolve that followed can ever quite forget it. Our
nation looks to our President to extol our basic
unity, to further our mutual dreams, and to celebrate
the diversity of ideas that enriches the very fabric
of America. America deserves better than a President
who praises his supporters, while scorning those who
might differ with him.
We still can reach back to September the 12th, we
still have it in us. That is the America I believe
in, that is the America I seek to serve, that is the
America I pledge to restore if given your trust on
November 2nd."
I know that a President John Kerry would have restored America to the spirit we embraced on 9/12/01. I know that President George W. Bush did not. After watching both political conventions unfold, it should be clear now to all observers that an Obama/Biden Administration will work to heal and uplift America, and that a McCain/Palin Administration woujld continue the legacy of George W. Bush using the tactics of Karl Rove.
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