It was a good day to be Barack Obama. President Obama pranced onto sacred Ground Zero yesterday, looking younger, lighter, happier, sharper than I’ve seen him in years.
Tossing off his ordinarily aloof demeanor as if flipping off an al Qaeda terrorist, Obama hugged kids, now nearly grown, whose dads were butchered on 9/11. He shook hands. Patted backs.
He kissed a lunging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on the lips. He laughed out loud. He took his time.
For a few hours, no one mentioned gas prices. The federal deficit. Donald Trump. The president had succeeded beyond our wildest imaginations.
He was the man.
PHOTOS: OBAMA VISITS GROUND ZERO
VIDEOS:
OBAMA LAYS WREATH AT GROUND ZERO
This trip yesterday, down into the partially rebuilt pit where thousands of Americans died in infamy, was, in part, a solemn occasion. A tearful reminder of how much we have lost.
But the visit also served as Obama’s much-deserved victory lap, and a highly appropriate celebration. For the trip to the place of so much horror reminded New Yorkers, as well as people everywhere wounded by the monstrosity of 9/11 that, on Obama’s watch — ding dong! — Osama bin Laden was really dead.
OBAMA PAYS RESPECTS IN VICTORY TOUR
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BIN LADEN PLOTTED TO HIT US TRAINS ON 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11
Along Broadway near the World Trade Center site, people gathered in the street, 10 deep, as if to cheer the Yankees. Not this time. They cheered for America.
“USA! USA! USA!” they chanted.
And, “Obama! O-bam-a! O-BAM-A!”
“I’m happy to see him get the day he deserves,” enthused Gina Goldman, cradling 3-year-old Valentina, who held a homemade sign that read, “We have always loved you.”
BOOZE AND CHEERS IN NY AS BIN LADEN FINALLY LIES IN THE DRINK
And at Ground Zero — a name soon to be retired in favor of, once again, the World Trade Center — Obama gently, silently, laid a wreath of multi-colored roses. Eyes gazing downward, he bowed his head and prayed quietly for a minute.
The spot stood inches from the Survivor Tree, a pear tree that had been nearly demolished on 9/11, but now stands, healthy, 35 feet tall. A sign of life. A symbol of resilience.
Then Obama was on. Grinning ear to ear, he embraced a widow and her three young daughters, still babies when their dad was ripped away forever.
He walked over to police officers standing at attention. One man started to salute the president. Quickly, Obama grabbed his hand and shook it instead. On this day, he was one of them.
“Americans don’t forget,” the president told assembled politicians, one of the few remarks that was relayed to the cheap seats. But Obama did not address the masses. He saved his words for the brave souls of
9/11.
In 15 minutes, he was gone, leaving his warm embrace. There will be time for taxes and Tea Parties. Even Trump. Later.
On this day, the president of the United States belonged to the city of New York.