Obama’s “September 10th mind-set” is exactly what America needs
In the June 18th edition of the Post-Dispatch, a McCain adviser was quoted as saying that Barack Obama “is a perfect manifestation of a September 10th mind-set.” Well, in the words of beloved President Reagan, “There you go again.”
As the Republican party “swift-boaters” are busy loading this cheap munition into their plan of attack, let’s pause and reflect upon other qualities of a pre-9/11 America.
Before 9/11, we believed ourselves to be a country that respected the rule of law and due process. President Bush and his administration did much to undermine our own freedom, and created prisons in Cuba and Iraq to avoid accountability in its handling of a newly-coined term - “enemy combatants.”
Before 9/11, we were a country that followed and promoted the Geneva Convention. Lawyers for the Bush administration wrote opinions that would be used to justify torture techniques that would be used, defining the new lens through which many now view us.
Before 9/11, we were a country admired by many, a nation with a long history of promoting the needs of the poor and marginalized across the globe. The quagmire of our own creation in Iraq has created many new generations of young people with a fierce hatred for America, leaving us more vulnerable for future attack.
We were once a country where a leader would strengthen our resolve, declaring that the “only thing to fear is fear itself.” President Bush and his administration preyed upon our fears to justify all of the above.
If this is the best advice Senator McCain is getting, he’d better surround himself with a new mind-set and fast.
America might be ready to once again become more than just the sum of our fears.
Ray Sherrock
St. Louis


agitprop (AJ-it-prop), noun:
Propaganda, especially pro-communist political propaganda disseminated through literature, drama, music, or art.
ob·fus·cate (ob-fuh-skeyt, ob-fuhs-keyt), verb (used with object):
1.To confuse, bewilder, or stupefy.
2.To make obscure or unclear
dis·in·gen·u·ous (dis-in-jen-yoo-uhs), adjective:
Lacking in frankness, candor, or sincerity; falsely or hypocritically ingenuous; insincere
guile·ful (gahyl-fuhl), adjective:
Insidiously cunning; artfully deceptive; wily.