By Robert Amoroso

It seems that this administration knows no bounds, when it comes to bad taste, and Monday, April 27^th was yet another example of an arrogant and clueless administration doing what it does best…fooling the American people.

As a New Yorker, who lived through that infamous day on September 11^th what took place on Monday over lower Manhattan should remind everyone once again, why we’ve been forever changed as New Yorkers.

However, the threat this time didn’t come from terrorists, but from a stupid stunt, by an inconsiderate White House, taking promotion photos of the New York City skyline. The fact that no one was notified in advance of the flight demonstrates to me a total lack of common sense and worse yet, insensitivity.

Imagine if you will, strolling on your lunch hour, a few blocks from Ground Zero and suddenly seeing and then hearing the raw of a large jetliner, followed closely by an F-16 fighter jet, flying low perhaps 1,000 feet over your head, and streaking towards buildings… what would you imagine? And yet it never dawned on this president that it would cause panic on the streets of lower Manhattan…and that’s the rub. For all of his hip and savvy demeanor…this man is totally clueless! 

If that were President Bush, the mainstream media would be out like rabid dogs attacking him (and rightly so). Of course President Obama isn’t George Bush, and thus continues to enjoy a double standard, and I suspect that one mans arrogance and inconsideration can be viewed by others, as an innocent error in judgment. Of course it all depends on what side of the political aisle you view it from.  

While Monday (thanks to this administration), brought back vivid images of 9/11, and it’s aftermath, it also reminded me once again, why I feel a personal debt of gratitude to President Bush in keeping America safe, for eight long years, and while this president tries to look presidential with scripted props, photo ops and teleprompters, President Bush did what he had to do, “protect and defend” the American people, irregardless of the outcome to himself.

Of course the circumstances and the mood in Washington and around the nation is a lot different today then it was on 9/11. Then we were all Americans under attack from a fanatical terrorist group that wanted nothing more then to murder us, and weather we were Democrats or Republicans, liberal or conservative, we were thankful and proud of a president who had only our best interest, at heart, and would do whatever it took to keep us safe.

Today we debate what constitutes torture and enhanced interrogation, and we fly over hallowed ground, for a photo op, sadly not much different then those vendors selling cheap souvenirs and photos a few blocks from Ground Zero, of the chaos and the carnage that followed on that infamous day.

Thanks in part to this president and a progressive movement that now seem to embrace our culture we now rewrite history and marginalize what took place on that day, and hardly mention the 3,000 plus innocent souls lost in New York City, and the hundreds at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. 

And while President Obama seems bent on destroying further President Bush’s legacy by cherry picking and declassifying certain “Top Secret” documents pertaining to torture, the one indisputable truth that this president cannot manipulate is that we were never attacked again, on American soil!

Sadly, we as a nation have short memories, we’re a fickle people easily distracted, and we pay little attention to history, and it seems that once the danger subsides we revert back to our own biases and ideology, and I suspect it’s simply human nature.

As for Congress and our leaders, there’s no excuse! These men and woman are elected officials, irregardless of party! They’ve taken an oath along with the president “to protect and defend”.  

To witness the likes of Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker playing word games, as to what she remembers, when being briefed in September of 2002, speaks volumes to her character. She along with Senators Graham, Rockefeller, Roberts and Rep. Goss, were briefed for over an hour, on enhanced" interrogation techniques, which included waterboarding…the end results of which, saved countless American life’s.

And while we once again wring our hands and vacillate, between what constitutes torture, and what doesn’t. We seem to forget our own principles and values, and of course the obvious, in that if one engages in foolish partisan politics, it will inevitably and eventually cut both ways.

And the question that should have been asked to our illustrious leader, at his recent press conference, should have been…”if waterboarding is considered torture by you, then by your very own definition, every president as “Commander and Chief” would be guilty of torture…because every elite serviceman and airmen within their respective branch of the military goes through a form of waterboarding as a training exercise”.

‘By your own definition and as “Commander and Chief” you would also be guilty of torture…Mr. President!

Of course this question will never be asked by the mainstream media, and hopefully it never will. Not because I have any sense that President Obama will do the right thing. His hypocrisy on the issue and the declassification of “Top Secret’ memos while our troops are still in harms way, has already demonstrated to me that the security of our nation and our men and woman in uniform aren’t paramount within his administration, but because we need those brave elite serviceman and woman to do what needs to be done.

It’s incredible to me, however, that this administration (if they sincerely believed) that waterboarding was indeed torture would focus on our enemies, Muslim terrorists and murders rather then American serviceman and woman, and not immediately stop the practice within our military… suggests to me, that this president is a tad (and I’m being kind) disingenuous..

Perhaps we should take Vice President Cheney’s suggestion and declassify ALL OF THE DOCUMENTS, irregardless of what that might do to our own national security, and while we’re at it, let’s take a look at the Clinton Administration, perhaps we can nail him on some obscure policy, and while I’d love to make an example of them all, we shouldn’t. Because our freedom is at stake, and there’s a relentless enemy out there, waiting, bidding their time, to strike again.

I’ve often thought that our own demise as a society would eventually come from within, rather then from an external force. As a student of history all one needs to do is take a look at how great nations eventually feed on themselves, until there’s nothing left…the problem with a “scorched earth policy”, Mr. President, is that it consumes everyone

I sincerely hope, that if the unthinkable should happen again, on this presidents watch, that he’ll have courage and intestinal fortitude, “to protect and defend” our nation as President Bush did, irregardless of the consequences…I hope however, we’ll never have to find out!