New School Politics

Politico Wrong on the end of 9/11 Politics

Eftychis | 31 01 2008

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Yesterday Ben Smith and David Paul Kuhn of the Politico.com wrote that Rudy Giuliani’s defeat and subsequent endorsement of John McCain signaled the end of “9/11 politics.”

They went on to say,
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“Rudy Giuliani’s distant third-place finish in Florida may put an end to his bid for president, and it seems also to mark the beginning of the end of a period in Republican politics that began on Sept. 11, 2001.”
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A parody from the Onion on Giuliani's use of 9/11 in his campaign

The article does raise a valid point that 9/11 no longer has the emotional significance for most Americans’ that it once did. Despite this fact, the consequences of September eleventh are still with us in many forms; the war in the Afghani and Iraqi theaters, the expensive federal budget on national security, the straining of the United States military and intelligence infrastructure, and the threat of nuclear proliferation throughout the world are all issues brought to the forefront of America’s consciousness because of what happened at the World Trade Center. All of these issues are still discussed daily in the foreign policy and national security community and to say that they will go away simply because Rudy Giuliani’s campaign has come to an end is simply incorrect.

The sub-prime mortgage crisis has been exacerbated by the Fed’s continual rate cuts, which were a reaction by Greenspan to attempt and stabilize the financial markets after the uncertainty caused by 9/11.

There is no question that the Giuliani campaign collapsed because of his reliance on 9/11 as a political punch line; yet to suggest that September 11th will not hold a prominent place in both Republican and Democratic politics for many years to come is absurd. 9/11 has radically changed how American’s view the world and their perception of our place in it; it has given cause to two wars which have subsequently strained the nation’s relationship with other actors in the international system. The spot light that 9/11 put on the Middle East has also given rise to the massive amount of speculation in the oil markets and has provided dictators like Putin to exert more control over their populations.

Eight years after 9/11 we are still learning about the ramifications on the economy, international politics, war and peace, civil liberties, and our way of life as a whole. September 11th was an event that will define the first 20 years of this new millennium and to dismiss it based upon the incompetency of one political campaign is not only arrogant, but dangerous.