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But when the President spoke, those doubts seemed resolved, and the country was ready to commence the largest town hall meeting in our history. At the hockey rink in the First Union Center in Philadelphia, the Rangers and Flyers were between periods when the image of Bush before the Congress appeared on the Jumbotron. After a few minutes, the players returned to the ice, the image disappeared--and the fans booed mightily. "Leave it on!" they chanted. So the skaters went back to their benches, and the arena fell silent. When the address was over, the teams skated back onto the ice, shook hands, declared the game over and called it a tie.
The way Bush let us know what he expected of us was to go first--rise to this test, grow into the job. He told the Taliban the terms on which their survival depended: Hand over Osama bin Laden, or share his fate. He told Muslims at home and abroad that we are not at war with Islam but with those who desecrate their peaceful faith. "We are not deceived by their pretenses to piety. We have seen their kind before. They are the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century...They follow in the path of fascism, Nazism and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way to where it ends--in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies."
It wasn't just that his words were stirring; he was showing us what a wartime President looks like, what most of us have seen only in newsreels until now. He told "every nation in every region" that they now have a decision to make: "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." He told our soldiers, "Be ready. The hour is coming when America will act." He told Americans that this is going to be a long campaign that will test both our resources and our will. "Freedom and fear are at war," he declared. "We will not tire. We will not falter, and we will not fail." And even as he spoke, the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt steamed toward the Mediterranean and points east, and more than 100 warplanes moved into position.
There are already casualties at home. "We are in a fight for our principles," the President said, "and our first responsibility is to live by them." America is most proud of qualities that proved most vulnerable: our embrace of people of every faith and color, our appreciation for dissent as essential to democratic wisdom. Barbara Lee, Democrat of California, was the only lawmaker to vote against the bill authorizing the use of force; her office began receiving death threats. When dissent is made to seem unpatriotic, a little sliver of democracy is dying.
The ugly side of fear never sleeps for long, and so Arab Americans and Muslims were attacked at their stores and homes. In Salt Lake City a small Pakistani restaurant, Curry in a Hurry, was damaged by arson. Word of the hate attack spread quickly, and the next day the place had its busiest day ever from patrons who wanted to support this Pakistani family and its business. People came with signs saying PEACE NOT HATE.