All hail the conqueror!
Terrorist-slaying President Obama marched triumphantly across the city yesterday on a sometimes solemn, but mostly celebratory, victory lap.
Roaring chants of “USA! USA!” followed the commando in chief’s motorcade as he marked the demise of Osama bin Laden with those most shaken by the terror chief’s treachery.
He lunched at a Midtown firehouse, where he told the men, “What happened on Sunday . . . sent a message around the world, but also sent a message here back home — that when we say we will never forget, we mean what we say.”
He also greeted cops at a downtown station house and laid a wreath at the World Trade Center memorial before meeting privately with the families of 9/11 victims.
At FDNY’s Engine Co. 54, “the Pride of Midtown,” which suffered more losses than any other firehouse on 9/11, Obama told New York’s Bravest that the Navy SEALs who killed the world’s most-wanted man were avenging the 343 firefighters lost in the Twin Towers.
“It’s some comfort, I hope, to all of you to know that when those guys took those extraordinary risks going into Pakistan, that they were doing it in part because of the sacrifices that were made in the States,” Obama said after looking at a plaque commemorating the 15 members of the firehouse killed.
“They were doing it in the name of your brothers that were lost.”
Then Obama got down to business.
“Well, listen, the main reason I came here is because I heard the food is pretty good,” he said.
The president talked baseball and Middle East politics with the crew as they sat down to a lunch of eggplant parmigiana, scalloped shrimp and pasta with sun-dried tomatoes in cream sauce, said firefighter Joe Ceravolo, who prepared the feast.
“This is the best restaurant in Manhattan,” Ceravolo said after lunching with the leader of the free world. “It was pretty awesome for me. Once in a lifetime, but bittersweet.”
Obama devoured the eggplant, he said.
“It went well considering I only got the call yesterday — we wanted it to be an authentic firehouse meal,” he said.
Halfway through the feast, the firefighters stood up to toast the president. They drank Cokes, while Obama, perhaps in deference to the first lady’s healthy-eating advocacy, had water.
“We toasted the commander in chief on a job well done Sunday night,” Battalion Chief Jack Joyce said. “There wasn’t any toast about bin Laden’s death — he’s dead, that’s it.”
Obama had so much fun with the firefighters that he invited the whole crew to the White House, Joyce said.
“Many of us are not Democrats. Many are Republicans. But today, he went right to the top of my list,” he said. “I don’t think you’ll have anybody in this firehouse saying anything bad about the president for a very long time.”
The firefighters were not specially chosen for the honor of lunch with the president, Joyce said.
“These were just the regular guys on the shift,” he said. “These guys are euphoric right now. They’re flying high — we got to feed Obama like an Italian.”
After lunch at the Hell’s Kitchen firehouse, the president’s 18-motorcycle motorcade made its way to the 1st Precinct station house in TriBeCa, where he was greeted by Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and 37 cops.
“God Bless, Barack Obama,” the president signed in the precinct’s log book.
“What we did on Sunday was directly connected to what you do every single day,” Obama told the cops. “And I know I speak for the military teams, the intelligence teams that helped get bin Laden in saying that we know the sacrifices and courage that you show as well, and that you are part of the team that helped us achieve our goal.”
The president also thanked former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was on hand for the visit.
“It’s a testimony that we may have our differences, politically, in ordinary times, but when it comes to keeping this country safe, we are, first and foremost, Americans,” Obama said.
Detective David Brink said afterward, “He made sure he met every single cop who was inside the precinct, which made you feel a little special.”
Before meeting privately with 9/11 families, Obama headed to Ground Zero, where he laid a wreath of red, white and blue flowers on the so-called Survivor Tree, which was nursed back to health after it was nearly destroyed in the terrorist attacks.
Obama hung his head and clasped his hands in silent acknowledgement of a moment bringing the city and the nation full circle.
“It was a day of nonpolitics,” NYPD Capt. Thomas Vendito said. “He shook our hands and thanked us for our service. We celebrated having had justice this week.”
Additional reporting by Lachlan Cartwright and Rebecca Rosenberg