Obama Speaks at 9/11 Commemoration

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/12/us/12cap…

WASHINGTON — On a gray rainy day in the nation’s capital — so unlike the bright sunny morning eight years ago when terrorists slammed planes into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon — President Obama called upon Americans to “renew our common purpose” with a day of service and remembrance of the Sept. 11 attacks.

“Through their own lives and through you, the loved ones they left behind, the men and women who lost their lives eight years ago today leave a legacy that still shines brightly in the darkness and that calls on all of us to be strong and firm and united,” Mr. Obama said during a memorial service at the Pentagon. “That is our calling today and in all the Septembers still to come.”

Mr. Obama and his wife Michelle began the day of commemoration on the White House South Lawn, where they and some 200 members of the White House staff observed a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., the moment the first plane struck the north tower of the World Trade Center.

It had been raining heavily here, but stopped moments before the Obamas emerged. A bell rang three times and they bowed their heads. They placed their hands over their hearts while a bugler played taps.

The president took a deep breath before he and Mrs. Obama turned silently and walked back into the White House. The staff, including Rahm Emanuel, the chief of staff, and David Axelrod, the senior adviser, stood silently by for a few moments more.

Then the rain resumed.

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