The nation needs to rekindle the common purpose it had in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001 and not have a president who seeks to divide the country, George Pataki, who was governor of New York at the time of the attacks, told Newsmax on Sunday.
Speaking on a special Newsmax broadcast to remember the fateful day, the former Republican governor said that after Sept. 11 "we were as united as I've ever seen in my lifetime. We weren't Republican or Democrat or black or white or young or old. We were Americans. We had been attacked and we were going to stand together."
But Pataki lamented that "now you look at Washington and we just saw a president ... who delivered a speech demonizing almost half the country. We need leadership that is going to look to bring us together, because we have a common future, not seek short-term political gain by dividing us."
In remembering the fateful day, Pataki recalled that he happened to be in New York City that Sept. 11 and that his security detail was concerned that there would be further attacks and insisted that he be brought by helicopter back to Albany into the emergency bunker.
But the former governor said that he refused to do that, after thinking for a minute, saying, "The governor can't be fleeing New York at this moment of crisis. I have to be here to run the effort to save lives and recover and then to walk the streeets just to give people confidence that we weren't fleeing. I was just so moved by the way New Yorkers responded that day."
Pataki said it was vital to start rebuilding in the spot where the World Trade Center stood.
"We had to show the world that we weren't cowards, we were going to rise to new heights, rise above where we were Sept. 11; and the Freedom Tower [and memorial] does that," as well as emphasizes to future generations the significance of what happened.
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