The Mabley Archive: On the day after 9/11, 'our nation enters a new era'

In 1988, when longtime Glenview resident Jack Mabley brought his column to the Daily Herald, he made a couple of requests: 1. Let him keep his ugly, old green chair. 2. Launch an edition for his hometown. He kept the chair. And now, more than a decade after his passing in 2006, his second request has been granted. This column is from Feb. 17, 1997.

"It Can't Happen Here."

It's the name of a 1935 book by Sinclair Lewis belittling America's belief that the Nazi threat would never reach America.

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Personal reaction to yesterday's attack on America was totally different from reaction to Pearl Harbor.

First there was shock, then horror, then disbelief, then fury and an intense desire to do something ... anything.

In the early afternoon of Dec. 7, 1941, I was making Christmas cards in the basement, listening to a Cardinals football game taking place in Comiskey Park.

The announcer interrupted with a matter-of-fact style bulletin that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. Then back to the game.

"Did you hear what I heard?" I asked my wife. "That means we're at war." A few minutes later the announcer returned to repeat the bulletin, finally realizing the gravity of the announcement.

We knew what happened. We knew who did it. Military recruiting stations were immediately jammed. I finished making the Christmas cards and joined the Navy the next day.

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The best thing that happened Tuesday was that hospitals were jammed with people donating their blood for the New York victims. They were doing something ... anything.

Our nation enters a new era today. Some will call it an age of terror. That's too strong. An age of nervousness, maybe, or apprehension.

We are now in an age of vulnerability. I think our national character is too tough to be scared or terrorized. We'll meet the challenge.

We'll also get an idea of what it's like to live in Israel.

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Where was Bush? All morning long the networks asked the question: He'd been in Florida and took off for Washington, but never arrived.

At 12:15 p.m. he appeared on tape for a brief message that the government was acting promptly. Around 2 p.m. we heard he was in a bunker near Omaha.

At 2:45 p.m. we got a live talk from Washington by Karen Hughes, Bush's chief political adviser. She assured us that the vice president was in charge of the White House.

Karen Hughes is not the government leader I want to see and hear in a time of severe crisis. If ever there was a time for leadership, it was Tuesday.

The perception was that Bush was hiding, and in a sense he was. I think he would have wanted to be at the White House addressing the nation earlier in the day. But the Secret Service overruled him.

It was a trade off ... take a risk and show your colors, or play it safe in a bunker in Nebraska.

The world was watching. The world was asking, "Where is Bush?"

Bush may pay dearly for that decision.

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Today we begin paying the price for this tragedy. We'll see mundane things like higher insurance premiums to pay for this disaster and to prepare for more.

When the stock market opens, it may wipe out a few billion dollars in a couple of hours.

If you thought there was tough security at airports, wait until you try to board any flight from now until eternity. The cost of this vastly increased security will be added to the price of our tickets.

As this is written, the effect on the price of gasoline hasn't fully surfaced, but we might come to consider $3 a gallon a bargain.

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Did we overreact to the attack? I think so. Was it really necessary to close almost everything?

The enemy, whoever he turns out to be, could hardly be more elated at the lives taken, the physical damage, the financial cost and the disruption of our lives.

The longer we stay hiding and afraid, the happier they'll be. The more motivation they'll have to do it again.

It's nervousness, the fear of making a wrong decision, that leads to overreaction. Decision-makers are terrified they might make the wrong decision, as long as the odds were. The safe way is to close up ... hide.

Some closings are appropriate out of respect for the dead. In some cases it also is so hard to get one's mind off the tragedy that work suffers.

But overall, the sooner we get back to normal, the better. The enemy is watching.

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Final thoughts: Condoleezza Rice, National Security Adviser. What security?