America needed a win

Tuesday's print column.

So ... I guess I shouldn't have turned in early Sunday night.

I awoke to a red blinking light on my phone Monday morning. It was a text from a buddy in Chicago. “Bin Laden dead. Woo woo!”

Woo, indeed.

I actually got the first details from my good old Gazette laying on the front stoop. “Justice has been done," a welcome headline staring up at me from the welcome mat. And it was Americans who struck the blow.

Soon, I was online, watching videos of the president and of Americans gathering around the country to celebrate Sunday night's lightning strike. We have so few truly common moments in our fractured society, and this was a big one. I'll tell my grandkids I watched the news all night. Let's keep the truth between us.

Some were critical of the all the U.S.A-chanting and fist-pumping. David Sirota wrote at Salon.com that in celebrating this death, we're actually mimicking our enemies. I understand where he's coming from.

But I also understand where we are right now. This is a country that was desperately in need of a win, a big success amid so many things that seem to be failing around us. We've been trying to digest horrific images from the tornado-torn South. The economy continues to defy our hopes for prosperity, and now gas prices are smacking us. Last week's news was dominated by birther nonsense, driven by the towering shamelessness of The Donald.

Is America on the wrong track? A lot of Americans are wondering whether the right track was sold for scrap.

Then big news arrived Sunday night. A victory. A relief. Cheer, yell, cry, pray whatever feels right. Who can blame you? Of course we know the fight isn't over.

And it turns out that it's not blowhards with more money than sense that make America exceptional. Instead, my vote goes to the dogged soldiers and intelligence gatherers who spent years painstakingly following every lead, taking great risks with hopes of finally tracking down the man who ordered the murder of thousands on our soil.

Their success in that enormous task may refresh our wavering understanding of why Iowa men and women are still fighting bin Laden's allies in Afghanistan. And no matter how or when that conflict ends, a primary objective has been met. A true mission accomplished.

“Today's achievement is a testament to the greatness of our country and the determination of the American people,” the president said. “Tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to.”

I bet we can find that missing right track, too.

Comments: (319) 398-8452; todd.dorman@sourcemedia.net