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COPYRIGHT 2002 All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of The Condé Nast Publications Inc.
Seven weeks ago, the first anniversary of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks was commemorated with appropriately solemn ceremony. November 7th marks another anniversary, the second, of another American injury.
In terms of national and international upheaval, geopolitical importance, and, above all, human suffering, there is, of course, no comparison between the events of September 11, 2001, and those accompanying the Presidential election of 2000. No evil conspiracy planned the latter; no one died on account of it; no children's dreams are haunted by it. Yet there is no doubt that American democracy suffered a grievous wound. September 11th presented a challenge to America's leaders, and by and large, especially in the early months, they rose to it. The challenge posed by November 7th, however, has never been met.
The most obvious aspect of that challenge is that for...
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