I have no idea what changes, if any, the bombing will cause in Afghanistan but I am guardedly confident it will play out for the better. What I do fear is that we're in for some rabid domestic squalls over what kind of criticism, if any, constitutes treason. A certain, rather large section of the U.S. is dying to hear that we kicked the asses of those who brought down the World Trade Center and will consider it unpatriotic to suggest that any nugget of U.S. victory is less than total and honorable.
I have a rather cynical, but perhaps not inaccurate view of what drives our public debate and it often comes down to: Watch the Money. For a long time and perhaps still, there was cash to be made and careers to be built on Clinton-bashing. So we got a lot of Clinton-bashing. Those who hated Clinton got lots of attention and those who just mildly disliked him learned to hate him because it did wonders for their bank accounts and fame. Any viewpoint that gets authors on CNN and their books on the Amazon.com "hot 100" is a viewpoint we hear more of and it needn't even be a majority. It just has to be fervent and have buying power.
Right now, those who are eager for John Wayne's America, where the U.S. is always supreme in strength and purpose, are fervent and have buying power. Merchandising of the tragedy (and particularly, of its heroes) has already commenced and what's coming will make the current flag-gouging and tribute events look tasteful by comparison. The same consumers also have, or think they have the moral high ground to bash anyone who might question their vision. Look at how much grief they caused Bill Maher for remarks that should have passed for Fair Comment…and initially did, until a few yahoo radio personalities began misinterpreting them.
I actually think it's a hopeful sign that our government has so demonized Osama Bin Laden and has recently announced a "Most Wanted" list of 22 suspected terrorists. This is not the most logical reason but I'm recalling J. Edgar Hoover's old dictum to his FBI minions that no one should be placed on the "Most Wanted" list unless there was a reasonable expectation that they would be apprehended. And just as J. Edgar didn't want to be caught failing to capture anyone on his list, I don't think those who are controlling the U.S. anti-terrorist efforts want to define the enemy and then fail to defeat it. They must believe they have enough information and access to bring down Bin Laden and to bag most of the 22.
If and when they do, we're going to see a lot of parades and dancing in American streets. We'll probably be told that this proves we need to ban abortions, rescind all laws about gun ownership, investigate the Clintons some more and do away with the Capital Gains tax. And folks who for years have abhorred the concept of "political correctness," as applied to things like smoking and gender discrimination, will be out selling all the right-wing wet dreams as the will of Real Americans. One hopes that some loud voices will remind them that we are all Real Americans…especially those who respect the flag instead of wrapping it around their pet prejudices.