Cameron, Hollande and Merkel will get their "bullhorn" moment

[CJCRANE]

at a rally in Paris on Sunday.

I'm sure you all remember when Dubya stood on the rubble of the World Trade Center with his arm around a firefighter and declared that we would stand united and go after the bad guys. Condolences poured in from around the world. Everyone rallied around the flag and Dubya's approval shot up to 90%.

Now this trio of unpopular leaders (although Merkel is more popular than the other two) will get their moment to stand together and define Western values against those who wish us harm.

But just like with 9/11 it's better not to ask why our governments want more surveillance on all of us when they already knew the perpetrators, or to delve too deeply into who financed the attacks.

I remember back in 2008 a Fox News pundit (of all people) made a very perceptive comment about John McCain's presidential campaign. He said that McCain needed to employ "negative enthusiasm". Obama had positive enthusiasm because he had the "can do" attitude and was charismatic. McCain, on the other hand, didn't have that charisma or much that was positive to offer. In that case, the pundit opined, his campaign should be about what he was *against*. He could only get his base fired up by making them angry about other people and things and being against them.

I see that same technique being used again, thirteen years after that original attack that started the "war on terror" and this strange path we've traveled down. My contention that we're seeing a reboot of that "war on terror" seems to be coming truer by the day. Everything is bigger and more fearsome this time. There is a real terrorist army that hates us for our freedoms. The western rebels in Syria and elsewhere may come back and form sleeper cells. We need to be more vigilant than ever.

But while we must be united against these internal and external enemies, it seems we are not encouraged to talk about austerity, inequality and a justice system that punishes the lower and middle classes but lets the super-rich off scot-free or with a metaphorical slap on the wrist.

But maybe this time things can go in a different direction.

So, yes, I can say "Je Suis Charlie" because they were human beings and I stand with them as human beings who have a right to free speech.

But I also think of how many times before this have we have said our own variations of "Je suis..." and been ignored, pushed down or intimidated.

Maybe we can stand up and make our voices heard from now on.

Nous sommes...

[JI7]

1. should they not say anything ? not everything is about us or Bush

Obama didn't react as Bush did with the Boston Bombing .

Australia and Canada didn't either.

and neither will those 3 .

[CJCRANE]

4. Of course, the OP in part is about freedom of speech so I'm interested to hear what they say.

But, let's face it, they are politicians (two of them conservative) so it's possible they will exploit it for their own agendas.

For example, every time one of these events happens we find out that the suspects were already known to the authorities but we are then told that the government needs more unfettered access to everyone's communications (although they won't talk about that at the rally, that's for the Op Eds).

I gave Bush the benefit of the doubt after 9/11 and he seemed to be doing okay until he veered off to Iraq. I already don't trust Cameron or Hollande (and don't have a good take on Merkel), but maybe they'll surprise me.

[bemildred]

2. It's pretty much vanilla politics to rally the troops in these situations.

I would not read too much into it.

On the other hand, forbidding pro-Palestinian protests, that's stupid, that is going to lead to more trouble.

And there is no doubt that the other-haters and the war-lovers will try to make use of the crime for their own purposes, I mean that is what they do, but how that works out will depend on us.

[BeyondGeography]

3. Merkel had a 74 percent approval rating in August and remains extremely popular

in Gerrmany. To say she is unpopular but more popular than the other two is, well, wrong.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/08/07/uk-germany-poll-satisfaction-idUKKBN0G71T320140807

[CJCRANE]

5. Fair enough. I don't hear much about German politics so thought I might not have a good take

on that, and I had a feeling another DUer would soon put me straight if I was wrong.

[BeyondGeography]

6. Interesting New Yorker profile here when you have the time

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/12/01/quiet-german

[CJCRANE]

7. Thanks, bookmarked. I'll have a read of that later. nt