Notes From D.R. | Random Thoughts on the Passing Scene

Maybe President Bush wouldn’t have such a rough time of it if more Americans remembered.

Most of Bush’s current political woes can be traced back to the country’s collective amnesia concerning 9/11. Ask yourself: would there be this much unrest over the goings-on in Iraq if more Americans recalled the tragic events of 9/11, and accepted the premise that the establishment of a functioning democracy in the Middle East is a prerequisite for preventing the likelihood of future attacks?

Granted, Bush hasn’t done a very good job of selling the American public on this idea. It says something damning about the President that Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly have done a better job at explaining the importance of "staying the course" than he has.

However, Bush wouldn’t even have to be a "salesman" if more Americans had retained the memory of people leaping from burning towers and anguished cell phone calls from passengers on planes about to plummet into the ground. So much of the President’s current political drama is caused by Americans choosing to forget that day’s trauma.

Two-thirds of the country supported Bush’s decision to topple the terrorism-supporting regime of Saddam Hussein in March 2003. Back then, 9/11 was still alive in the collective consciousness. The populace accepted the idea that America was in the midst of an ideological struggle between democracy and neo-fascism.

I remember the vibrant patriotism that filled the air four years ago–a patriotism that overpowered the anarchic aggression of anti-war protesters. Now, it seems that the anti-war side has the power, the energy, the momentum. They certainly have the House of Representatives and the Senate.

How did this happen? Where did the country go wrong? Why did the country choose to forget?

On his last solo album, Steely Dan singer Donald Fagen has a track entitled "The Great Pagoda of Funn" (sic), about lovers who decide to block out the outside world, believing that a state of artificial bliss is preferable to the worry caused by "poison skies/and severed heads/and pain and lies." While Fagen didn’t intend the song to be a metaphor for the way America has now chosen to respond to the post-9/11 world, it’s hard to deny that this is in fact the case. Let’s face it: how many Americans are even bothered to read stories about the apparent success of the recent troop surge? In many respects, we’ve gone back to the blissful ignorance of the 1990s; there are probably more Americans who know about Donald Trump possibly having his head shaved this weekend than they do about Iran kidnapping British sailors.

It’s time to confront the grim reality that this country is far, far different from what it was during World War II. Pearl Harbor had a far more galvanizing effect on the American people than 9/11 ever did. Surrender was an abstract concept six decades ago. Now, it seems to be the default option.

Osama bin Laden must have seen this coming. He must have known that America would not have the stomach to support a protracted war against terrorism. He had to know that at some point, America would crack and throw in the towel, allowing the Islamofascists to dominate by default.

My God. The terrorists have won.