9/11 Was Far From Robert Gibbs Memory Yesterday

Believe it or not, I do not spend my days playing “Gotcha!” with President Obama. I do not care about what he said on Leno about the Special Olympics, nor do I catalog every teleprompter gaff. Like all Presidents, the man does a lot of speaking and mistakes, misstatements, and missteps are a mathematical certainty at some point and YouTube guarantees they will stay with him forever.

But when a presidential 747 (designated “Air Force One” when he is on board), trailed by a complement of F-16s, buzzes lower Manhattan, and no one at the White House, including senior spokesman Robert Gibbs, seems to know more about it than I did by just looking out my office window, I have to wonder how seriously this administration really takes the threat of domestic terrorism.

Several banks I deal with evacuated their offices. More than a few people here were in a panic. Many of us who were there or who lost friends or relatives on 9/11 felt a sickening sense of déjà vu. Mayor Bloomberg was furious that the federal government would show such “poor judgment…[that it] defies imagination.”

Now, in all fairness to the White House, the FAA did make New York and New Jersey authorities aware of the exercise, photo-op, whatever it was, and it seems that Bloomberg’s ignorance to the stunt was the result of poor staffer communication. But one wonders again, how this fits in the narrative that I have observed time and again which is that this is an administration that fundamentally does not “get it” where the memory of 9/11 is concerned and what lessons we need to remember from that day.

Consider Gibbs’ responses to repeated questioning about the event which bordered on flippant.

Q: Second question, do you guys feel you owe folks in New York City this morning an apology for this incident having to do with the airplane that looks like Air Force One with two fighter jets? There seemed to be a lot of panic --

MR. GIBBS: I would point you to the FAA or Air Force.

Q: Everybody's pointing us to the White House Military Office, so that's why --

MR. GIBBS: Well, then I would contact the White House --

Q Well, the White House Military Office won't tell us anything -- they'll refer us to you. (Laughter.)

MR. GIBBS: Well, then let me go discuss with the White House Military -- I don't -- I have seen some news reports but --

Q What was the photo op for?

MR. GIBBS: I don't know. That's -- I have no information on this other than what I saw --

Q I mean, I understand the way this works. I'm just saying, appearance-wise, it's odd that you guys don't have a response. I mean, this is the President's aircraft or what looks like --

MR. GIBBS: I understand. I was working on other things. You might be surprised to know I don't know of every movement of Air Force One or what happens to it. But I will certainly talk to the Military Office.

Q: -- very edgy about it.

Q: A follow-up?

MR. GIBBS: What's that? No, let's go to --

Not a hint of humility on the subject. I’m sorry Mr. Gibbs, but we here along the Hudson too were “working on other things” before a giant four-engine aircraft that was behaving just like the two that slammed into and leveled our 110-story World Trade Centers a while back appeared overhead with what could have very well been pursuing F-16s as much as escorts. From our vantage point, it all looked way too familiar and people here rightfully assumed the worst.

The lack of common sense and sensitivity displayed here is frightening. Considering that people in the New York area still bear the deep emotional (some even physical) scars of that day, did anyone even ponder that it may not be the most appropriate exercise to fly a 900,000 pound aircraft at low level over the site of the worst terror attack in US history (one that involved commercial aircraft slamming into buildings) in broad daylight with fighter jets trailing it? What does this say about how much the current administration even thinks about 9/11 when planning its day? It tells me that it is not even on their radar. Certainly Mr. Gibbs, as the White House’s voice, seemed irked that the subject was even broached. As if it was no big deal. Whatever. On to health care.

Given this clear lack of comprehension over how the exercise may have appeared to a city that clearly remembers 9/11; given the release of documents related to enhanced interrogation while not releasing the intelligence learned, plots foiled, and lives saved; given that the memos are not enough but now the administration feels compelled to also release photos, the images of which will do nothing to help our reputation abroad given that no context will be forthcoming, but rather will incite more anti-American vitriol with zero benefit to the country other than satisfying the left-wing fringes bent on destroying the previous president no matter what the cost to our security, it is difficult to come to any other conclusion than this: When it comes to the very real threat of terrorism that still exists today, this President just doesn’t get it…or worse, really doesn’t care that much. I am trying not to believe this. I hope I am wrong. But the record so far makes this notion difficult for me to dismiss.

George Santayana’s famous quote has been overused to the point of cliché but sadly it rings very relevant to this administration: “those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”