It seems that for the entire Bush Administration that the searches for Osama bin Laden have been fruitless, expensive, and divisive with our friends in that part of the world and a conclusion that Mr. bin Laden won. He brought down iconic buildings in New York City, damaged the Pentagon and only lost out on plummeting a plane into the White House because of brave passengers in the fourth plane of a brilliant plan to bring down the Great Satan.

I was reminded of the above because sitting in a salon where Carol has her nails done, I was reading a 2007 account of the war against Al Queda and the search for Mr. bin Laden.  It became apparent that the answer to Mr. bin Laden was bungled time after time and our military and political apparatus were not in sync nor were they effective.  We spent literally billions proving that we were not impervious to clever opponents we could hardly learn a thing about.  We proved that Mr. Bush was Mr. Bluster to Mr. Bin Laden’s Mr. Evasive.

This predicament is another bequest of Mr. Bush to Mr. Obama.  The Republicans tried to best the Democrats by the play of words that appeared to be similar and Islamic while Mr. Obama, a Christian, caught the attention of Americans who backed him decisively.  Now it is Mr. Obama’s problem to solve and it is my personal hope that it will not be a military expansion that will be chosen to have the world opinion about America take a new direction to prove we are not the Great Satan but the old America: the world leader in innovation and, of course, the perfect example of democracy in action.

If I had my druthers, I would throw Governor Blagojevich out on his ear and add enough new Democratic Senators to make a Congress that will demonstrate what I have said above.

One thing which bothers me is the fact that the UN, created at the end of World War II, had a lot of promise and then became the United Nations which is as conservative and reactionary as the American Republican Party.  It is also noted that the divisiveness in the World is yet again a religious thing with the perception that Mr. bin Laden set the rules for Christianity to protect Israel and become the target of fundamentalist governments who wish to tear down America instead of finding the formula for peace in our time.

The two things, pursuit of bin Laden and peace in our time are entwined and will take all our strength to accomplish.  Mr. Obama might do it with our help.