This afternoon, I saw Wolf Blitzer of CNN interview Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech’s football coach. They were discussing the cancellation of the Hokies’ spring football game, which had been scheduled for Saturday, out of respect for students and families who are grieving for friends and loved ones.
I don’t usually pay much attention to sports culture or sports personalities, but what I heard from Coach Beamer literally brought me to my feet.
[Hokum or Hokie? You decide -- below the fold]
I can’t find a transcript of the CNN interview, but the Beamer quote that caught my attention nearly matches this one, which appears in USA Today in the Sports section:
"My mission right now is that we're not going to let one person come here and destroy what happens here every day. We will not; we absolutely will not. We cannot.”
Beamer seemed almost defiant, saying we’re not going to let one crazed killer change us. We have too much pride, too much integrity for that.
I immediately contrasted Beamer's message with the ones we are bombarded with daily, including many from our own “coach” (although he deserves no such honorific title) since September 11, 2001. Sometimes it's hard for me to comprehend just how much has changed. I usually walk through it unconsciously, but on a trip through the airport I heard as if for the first time a recorded message I've "listened to" hundreds of times before: “There is no parking or waiting on the drive. You must be actively loading or unloading your vehicle. Violators will be ticketed and towed.”
Once inside the terminal, I heard last week: “The Department of Homeland Security advises travelers that the threat level has been elevated to orange. Please exercise extra caution.” How bizarre, I marveled. A warning that the treat level is orange is so non-specific that it can only induce and perpetuate a general state of anxiety. I felt like I was walking through a Paul Verhoeven movie; perhaps an extra in Robocop XIV.
In America's heightened state of anxiety, we have gone down the road to and well beyond Abu Ghraib, illegal wiretapping, the virtual suspension of The Bill of Rights, the demise of habeas corpus and the Geneva conventions, and the co-option of congressional prerogatives such as Senate confirmation of replacement US attorneys. The list is long and sadly familiar to readers of this blog. I’m sure you get the point.
The justification for all this fear mongering, the loss of who we are as Americans and the destruction of “what happens here every day” is some perverted notion (repeated almost daily by an administration hack or a right-wing, talking-point monkey) that the president’s highest responsibility is to protect the American people.
Nooooo…how about:
I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. [with my emphasis added]
It’s too late to change what has transpired in America since 9/11/01, but it’s not too late to undo the damage. Starting in 2009, I hope we’ll have a coach, er president, who’ll say to us:
My mission right now is that we're not going to let one person come here and destroy what happens here every day. We will not; we absolutely will not. We cannot.
Well said, Frank Beamer. Have you ever considered running for president?
Come to think of it, we could all say right now: "We're not going to let one person [Bush] remain here and continue to destroy what once happened here every day. We will not; we absolutely will not. We cannot." Now that would be some welcome change, huh?