The politics of terrorism

How the GOP used 9/11 to scare Americans into war: An excerpt from "Stand Up, Fight Back: Republican Toughs, Democratic Wimps, and the Politics of Revenge."

By E.J. Dionne Jr.

Jun 4, 2004 | "All of us stand with the president and support every effort to bring to justice those responsible for these despicable crimes."
-- Sen. Joseph R. Biden, Democrat of Delaware, Sept. 11, 2001

"We will speak with one voice."
-- Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, Sept. 11, 2001

"The fact that the administration used 9/11 in the last election, that they seemed intent on using the president's role as commander-in-chief as a way of soliciting votes, has created a hardening of partisan lines that will be felt until the end of this administration."
-- Democratic Congressman Chakah Fatah of Philadelphia, January 2003

In light of the bitter partisan divisions that now characterize our politics, it is hard to remember the depth of national unity that immediately followed the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It seems fanciful that there was once a time when Democrats blunted all criticisms of George W. Bush, united behind him, and prayed for his success. Literally: prayed.

I will never forget a conversation I had shortly after 9/11 with a Democratic consultant, a happy warrior who loves to defeat Republicans and has no particular sympathy for the president. Asked about his attitude toward Bush in the wake of the attack, he replied: "I actually went into church and knelt down and prayed that he'd be successful. He's ours. He's all we've got. Pray God that he's going to do what's best for our country."

The national crisis meant that Republicans and Democrats stopped throwing loaded lockboxes at each other. They stopped challenging each other's moral standing. The talk -- of which I was part -- was of a new seriousness in politics and the possibility of rolling back the bitterness of the last decade.

Bush himself seemed to change. His foreign policy in the months immediately after 9/11 lost some of the unilateralist tinge that colored so many of his early foreign policy choices and statements -- and later ones. Winning the battle against terror required an end to unilateralism and the construction of a broad international coalition. The fact that the world rallied to the United States made hopes for such a coalition realistic. And the need for such an alliance immediately raised the profile and operational responsibilities of Secretary of State Colin Powell. This, too, had positive political effects. Powell, the quintessential coalition-builder, was the cabinet officer most popular among independents and Democrats.

A president who had said he was not "into" nation-building showed signs of understanding that nation-building was exactly what Afghanistan needed. The United States' failure to help rebuild Afghanistan after the defeat of the Soviet invasion in the 1980s laid the groundwork for the rise of the very forces the United States confronted on Sept. 12, 2001. It turned out there was a practical side to humanitarianism. This sentiment was shared across party lines, but it was especially important to Bush's new Democratic allies.

Bush's post-9/11 rhetoric had particular appeal to his ideological adversaries. Early on, Bush stood up in defense of the rights of America's Muslim community. In assailing the Taliban, the president emphasized the aspects of its rule -- its denials of religious liberty, its repression of political opponents, and, especially, its war against gender equality -- most offensive to liberals and the political left. In his speeches, Bush grafted the language of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman to the martial rhythms of Ronald Reagan.

Next Page: Eight days after 9/11, the Wall Street Journal's editorial page goes on the attack

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