Republican vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan serves some lasagna during a lunch with firefighters on Tuesday in Oak Creek, Wis.WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney declared a fleeting truce for partisan digs Tuesday as the nation remembered the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but campaign politics crackled through even their somber observances.
The campaigns pulled their negative ads and scheduled no rallies. But both candidates stayed in the public eye as the nation marked the 11th anniversary of the jetliner crashes that left nearly 3,000 dead.
Obama observed a White House moment of silence, attended a memorial service at the Pentagon, visited Arlington National Cemetery and then met privately with wounded soldiers and their families at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. But former President Bill Clinton carried on with a campaign stop for Obama in Florida, and the Democrat’s camp issued registration appeals under first lady Michelle Obama’s name.
In an echo of his usual campaign speech, Obama noted that the war in Iraq is over and troops are on track to leave Afghanistan in 2014.
“Al-Qaida’s leadership has been devastated, and Osama bin Laden will never threaten us again,” Obama said at the Pentagon. “Our country is safer and our people are resilient.”