We have our house back
: The White House is no longer under siege. The barriers are down. The street is open.
I’m not talking politics. I’m talking about the building.
I went running t his morning in D.C. from Dupont Circle down to the White House and was delighted to see the construction and barriers in front of the White House suddenly gone. Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the black fence is closed to traffic but open to us, turned into a broad promenade with lamps, a beautiful setting, and a good view of all the TV reporters using the White House as their backdrop.
The last time I walked this way, you couldn’t get anywhere near the White House. It felt as if this, too, had been stolen from us by the terrorists.
But now it’s open again. God knows what security measures lie underneath these broad stones (trap doors?); at least it’s invisible. So it almost appears as if Washington is finding its normal.
Add to that the lowering of security levels in New York, New Jersey, and Washington and it feels good.
I can hear the “comment” links being clicked now by those who would say this was all a right-wing conspiracy, if not a vast one: They left the barriers and alerts up, this theory says, until the election to keep us scared into voting for their side and now they’re down. But I’m not a conspiracy theorist. If we were that good at organizing things we’d have organized Iraq better or we could at least organize American elections better. Oh, that’s right, those are covered by conspiracy theories, too.
Nevermind. It was great to see the road to the White House opened up again.
