9/11 and its legacy of fear

Published September 10, 2012 4:00am ET



Today marks the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks. What, if anything, have we learned? In a Saturday statement, President Obama struck an upbeat note: “The legacy of 9/11,” he said, is “the ability to say with confidence that no adversary and no act of terrorism can change who we are.”

Who’s he kidding? For us ordinary schlubs who don’t own our own planes, a trip to the airport provides less reason for optimism. We shuffle shoeless through the security line, at the end of which government agents will either grope us or look at us naked. And despite his campaign trail promises to “set an example for the world that the law is not subject to the whims of stubborn rulers,” Obama has forged an expanded “Terror Presidency,” with dangerous new powers for all future presidents to wield.

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