The Unity's Over

How extraordinary, the nation's consensus. On the fifth anniversary of September 11, all Americans — even the fiercest critics of U.S. foreign policy, even the most rabid Bush Derangement Syndrome — came together in agreement that, yes, The World Trade Center was destroyed, the twin towers no longer exist. Beyond that point, the consensus doesn't exist. The majority of Democrats in Congress really do seem to believe that what happened that day in Manhattan, Washington, and Shanksville was simply an unfortunate episode, a sad aberration, a tragic quirk. Quirky and episodic like former national security advisor Sandy Berger unthinkingly removing top secret documents from classified archives and, in a state of distraction and inattention, stuffing the documents down his pants, only to absent-mindedly destroy those documents when he returns home. It's a common thing, that kind of pants problem. Happens a lot, like Madeleine Albright's boast that she can leg-press 400 pounds. Sandy and Maddy — yes, these are the two main people I trust to evaluate the reality basis of a TV show about the leadup to September 11. They agree: the buildings fell. The rest is details, like Bill Clinton not answering Berger's phone calls. The president had his own pants problems, cut the guy some slack.