President George W. Bush gained a huge amount of popularity after 9/11 by standing at Ground Zero and talking to the first responders, America and the world through a bull horn. He united America, even though it was for a comparatively brief moment.
Now, President Bush, having been invited by President Obama to be at Ground Zero tomorrow has another chance to unite us again by traveling to Ground Zero with President Obama on Thursday. But he is choosing not to come to New York City.
Word has it that President Bush will be at Ground Zero to mark the tenth anniversary of 9/11. That is good news.
However, I wish he would reconsider, fire up his plane and be there tomorrow. President Bush was president of all Americans, right, left and center.
The announcement on Sunday of Usama Bin Laden's demise was something that left many Americans relieved and especially those who lost a loved one in the 9/11 terror attacks.
The White House and Democrats in Congress are engaged in a huge struggle with Republican lawmakers over the debt and the deficit. That struggle is not going to cease even if President Bush appears at Ground Zero standing next to President Obama.
Senator Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan is famous for delivering a speech after WWII declaring that "politics stops at the waters edge." It also stops at the hole in the ground known as Ground Zero.
I did not agree with President Bush on his Iraq policy among other issues but as a Republican, two-term president he is a leader who represents our country at a time where unity is important.
It is also important that to show that our nation's leaders on both the left and right agree that the Al Qaeda leader is really dead.
On a personal note, what I would like to see from Thursday's event at Ground Zero is not a celebratory atmosphere but a solemn connection with 9/11 families.
I hope President Bush changes his mind by tomorrow and comes to New York to show America -- and the world -- that we are united.
Ellen Ratner is a Fox News contributor and Washington bureau chief for Talk Radio News Service.
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