The victory against holding the 9/11 terror trial in Manhattan is evidence that what happened in Massachusetts didn't stay there. New York is having its own Boston Tea Party.
Politicians--beware. The public is mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.
Just as Bay State voters shocked the political world by picking a conservative to replace Ted Kennedy, the liberal canyons of lower Manhattan were an unlikely site for a revolt against the plan to bring Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his murderous crew into federal court.
But revolt happened and now that President Obama has backed down, the case proves you really can fight City Hall and the White House -- and win.
Predictably, residents and businesses didn't initially object to the trial, especially after Mayor Bloomberg gave the green light and city Democrats in Congress foolishly said amen.
After all, they are so busy fighting Washington's partisan battles they forget their duty to serve the little folks back home. Party first, people second.
New Yorkers have put up with it for too long. But not this time.
The pushback started with the local community board, which persisted despite Bloomberg calling the suggestion to move the trial to Governors Island "dumb."
That was a dumb thing to say. It left him defending a fiasco that, by his own estimate, would cost taxpayers over $200 million a year just for the NYPD. Even if Washington paid every cent, it was still a giant waste of money.
The impact on downtown would have been a killer, with checkpoints turning the area into a fortress. And bringing the 9/11 plotters to within blocks of Ground Zero was sacrilege.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told me neither he nor Bloomberg was consulted before the Justice Department made the decision. Kelly clearly didn't like the idea, mostly because he believed it made New York a more likely target for terrorists.
In fact, Kelly was quite open with that assessment, which makes it all the more infuriating that any New York pol would support the trial. Did they think Kelly was making up the threat?
Did they care?
Now they care. The momentum changed when business leaders woke up and sided with the community board and some City Council members and likely Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. voiced their opposition.
When Bloomy finally threw in the towel, Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and House Democrats raced to catch the parade.
Don't forget that sequence of events. The political establishment was an obstacle to common sense and public safety -- and still would be if ordinary New Yorkers had stayed quiet.
Michael Goodwin is a New York Post columnist and Fox News contributor. To continue reading his column, click here.
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