Scare Force One
Here's the thing that this White House doesn't understand. A plane that size. That type of looking plane ... no one over the age of 18 will ever be able to see a plane that looks like that anywhere near the New York skyline without thinking first of September 11th.
An F-16, F-117, F-35; a plane that shows strength, determination, our willingness to defend, now that's something that I think people could stand. Because it's such a sharp contrast between the passenger planes trapped in all of our memories.
And that's what they didn't understand. Regardless of what it was for, regardless of its intentions, it's a bad idea. I'm all about airplane photo ops. Pilots need flight hours to stay current and sharp and that requires missions. Taking pictures of airplanes that do awesome things is fine by me.
Taking a picture of a 747 flying over New York City will never be okay. Not for this generation. And this is something that the Bush White House understood. Maybe because they were there and evacuated, and were scared, and were more closely involved. Maybe because President Bush had to stand on that pile of rubble and reassure a nation. Maybe that responsibility made that administration, in that one respect, just get it.
I read they wanted to do a similar photo op over D.C. A place where planes crashed into the Pentagon and 53 people were killed.
53 people, had this White House been present, this administration may have known personally. And because they didn't, maybe thats why they remained oblivious to the fact that this photo op wasn't just inconvenient, they were disasterously bad ideas. They were insensitive, infuriating, and display a level of obtuseness I didn't think possible.
We may be acting like it's September 10th around here, but everyone still remembers. New Yorkers still remember. I wish I felt like the White House remembered.
An F-16, F-117, F-35; a plane that shows strength, determination, our willingness to defend, now that's something that I think people could stand. Because it's such a sharp contrast between the passenger planes trapped in all of our memories.
And that's what they didn't understand. Regardless of what it was for, regardless of its intentions, it's a bad idea. I'm all about airplane photo ops. Pilots need flight hours to stay current and sharp and that requires missions. Taking pictures of airplanes that do awesome things is fine by me.
Taking a picture of a 747 flying over New York City will never be okay. Not for this generation. And this is something that the Bush White House understood. Maybe because they were there and evacuated, and were scared, and were more closely involved. Maybe because President Bush had to stand on that pile of rubble and reassure a nation. Maybe that responsibility made that administration, in that one respect, just get it.
I read they wanted to do a similar photo op over D.C. A place where planes crashed into the Pentagon and 53 people were killed.
53 people, had this White House been present, this administration may have known personally. And because they didn't, maybe thats why they remained oblivious to the fact that this photo op wasn't just inconvenient, they were disasterously bad ideas. They were insensitive, infuriating, and display a level of obtuseness I didn't think possible.
We may be acting like it's September 10th around here, but everyone still remembers. New Yorkers still remember. I wish I felt like the White House remembered.
Comments
It is unfair to hammer the president now though since I would guess on the 1-10 scale in his presidency this event is a 1 in importance.
But, as with all things, fair or unfair, the buck stops with him.