Twelve years ago, I was in a car traveling to the Ford plant in Hermosillo, Mexico when the first airliner struck the World Trade Center. When we arrived at the facility and entered the lobby, a security guard came up and asked if we were aware of “what is going on in the States?”
Needless to say, our meeting that morning was cancelled, and we immediately headed back for the border. During the entire drive we kept trying to tune in radio stations to get more information. We heard the report of the Pentagon impact, and then the collapse of each WTC tower. We weren’t sure if we’d get across the border that day, or even that week, and since we’d only planned on a day trip, this wasn’t encouraging, but by the time we arrived, the border had reopened. The line was an hour long, but it did move, and we got home.
My reaction was surprise that it had taken as long as it did before we were hit, and shock at the effectiveness of the attack. I knew that the reaction to the attack would be swift, and probably severe.
I did not expect a decade-plus of war. I certainly did not expect said warfare to extend into the second term of our current President, much less expansion of that warfare.
Last year’s attack on the Benghazi consulate? Not a shocker, but the total lack of reaction from Washington was. “What difference does it make?” Seriously?
And now Obama wants to strike Syria?
Awhile back on Facebook, someone asked for a one-word description of the Obama presidency. Most all of the responses were derisive, scatological, or merely angry. My response was descriptive: “transformational.” After all, the man said in October 30, 2008 that we were “five days away from fundamentally transforming” the United States. Five years into his Presidency, I’d say that’s the one campaign promise he has most definitely kept.