A rose by any other name...

On the anniversary of the September 11th attacks, Senators McCain and Obama set aside their cudgels and came together to pay their respects at Ground Zero. Roll the clip:



Notice it? Sen. McCain and his wife (someone who is also more qualified to be President than Sen. Obama) bend down to lay their roses on the memorial while Sen. Obama and Mayor Bloomberg toss theirs. I'm sure there are folks who are thinking "so what?". It's a matter of etiquette, of respect, but more importantly it's also a matter humility. These were fellow Americans (heck, fellow citizens of the world for that matter) who were brutally murdered. The least you can do is bow or kneel down (something quite difficult for Sen. McCain given the injuries he endured at the hands of the enemy), you humble yourself and gently place your offering upon the memorial for people who had violence thrust upon them.

Sen. Obama, on the other hand, walks up standing tall and tosses his rose on the memorial. I wonder if it went through his mind when he saw Sen. McCain and his wife, his rose already tossed, place their roses and thought, "Damn, I should have done that too."