Presidential vigilance for seven years
Thank God for President Bush. Thank God for the emergency personnel who responded to the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Thank God that 43 subsequent planned terrorist attacks on American soil were foiled by this administration, aided by America's true friends. Thank God that despite dire predictions to the contrary, America has been kept safe.
And lest we forget, thank God for the United States military, America's best and brightest men and women, 
who have suppressed terrorism far from home and who sacrificed personal safety and family life to ensure the security and well-being of their countrymen.
Safe enough to forget
There are no blaring headlines, no shrill broadcasts when local law enforcement is doing its job and crime incidents are low. There is no Drive-by Media finger-pointing or fear-mongering when municipal utilities are functioning properly and services are efficiently delivered. There are no agenda-driven recriminations or scape-goating in the aftermath of a natural disaster when emergency relief efforts are conducted rapidly and effectively.
Thus has it been in the United States these past seven years. There has been no Drive-by Media hysteria simply because another 9/11 has not happened -- thanks to the oft-forgotten efforts of those previously mentioned. Oh, no -- in Media-speak, it only "leads" if it "bleeds," so we have been spared the usual despicable condemnation -- at least on this point.
By anyone's measure, President Bush has been savagely, relentlessly, and unjustly attacked and excoriated for more things beyond his control than any other president in memory. But his successful leadership on the single most important issue within his control -- a safe and secure America -- has hardly raised a drop of libelous printer's ink or out-of-context sound bite. "President Bush has been savagely, relentlessly, and unjustly attacked for more things out of his control than any other president in memory."For seven years, President Bush has not demeaned himself or disgraced our nation's highest office by doing the politically safe thing, the easy thing, the poll-driven thing. It must be clearly obvious to even the most thick-headed or hateful among us that President Bush cares not one whit about his approval ratings.
No ... It must be clearly obvious to even his most partisan, most agenda-driven, most spiteful detractors that the gravest duty tasked to President Bush has been and continues to be keeping Americans and America safe. Only with principled conviction could he, against the most vicious opposition and withering condemnation, stay the course in Afghanistan and Iraq, and battle so fiercely to strengthen America's intelligence agencies and security policies.
A criterion of any endeavor is success measured over time -- and for seven years we have been safe and secure.
Testing the courage of conviction
Since 9/11, President Bush has been attacked by the Drive-by Media and the "A criterion of any endeavor is success measured over time -- and for seven years we have been safe and secure."Democrat Party more often and with more seething hatred than they ever aimed at any terrorist. Such mindless venom cowed many Americans and the president's "moderate" political allies into abandoning their principals almost as quickly as they abandoned their president.
And yet President Bush has not wavered or abandoned his core values. Nor has he expediently shirked his primary national responsibilities in lieu of positive poll numbers. It will not surprise this author when, down history's road, clearer-thinking Americans re-evaluate and elevate the wrong-headed low approval rating of this good and decent man.
Meantime, let us put childish political games aside. Let us as a nation recall that clear, sunlit September morning when we watched, horrified, as thousands of our countrymen were murdered and only by the saving grace of a few brave airline passengers thousands more were not.
Today, remember those who died and say a heartfelt prayer for the everlasting comfort of their loved ones.