Obama calls on US to renew 9/11 spirit of service

[Wetzelbill]

Obama calls on US to renew 9/11 spirit of service

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 30 minutes ago

CHAMPION, Pa. - On the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama called on Americans to renew "that spirit of service and that sense of common purpose" that followed the terrorist assaults that killed nearly 3,000 people.

With 54 days left in the heated presidential campaign, Thursday was unusual — a sort of political cease-fire in honor of the day terrorists forced four airplanes into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, a field in Shanksville, Pa., and the Pentagon in Washington.

Obama and his rival for the presidency, Republican John McCain, were to appear together twice, although briefly each time and mostly without public words. They also agreed to suspend all TV ads critical of each other.

The 2001 attacks transformed the nation in many ways, and one is that every anniversary since has found those holding or seeking office struggling for ways to appropriately pay homage. But it remained to be seen whether the McCain and Obama camps would actually refrain from sharp-edged campaigning, something hard to halt in an age of the Internet and 24-hour television news.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080911/ap_on_el_pr/candidates_sept11