Which is a bigger historical event: 9/11 or Obama?

I think Obama is a bigger historical event….it’s kinda like the culmination of the civil rights movement…9/11 though it was a terrible terrorist attack…it isn’t the first, and won’t be the last.

well, seeing as in the series 24, the fact that the president was black was a bigger surprise than the nuclear attacks…

I would hope Obama because it is a positive step forward for this country no matter what your political beliefs.

If you mean simply Obama’s election, then definitely 9/11. We elect a new president every 4 or 8 years.

But, Obama’s entire presidency may well be a more significant historical event. But we have to wait and see.

I really don’t think you can compare the two.

I don’t think the events are being compared…but rather, if you looked at these two events on a timeline, which would be a more significant milestone for this country. And I think if you consider the history of slavery, and the civil rights movement, Obama I think is a bigger milestone. 9/11 is a huge terrorist attack, but I don’t think it quite stands up against the first African American President in the history of the United States.

I think that this decade was probably the most turbulent since the 1960s. Can you pick ONE event of the 1960s that is the biggest? Moon landing, JFK’s assassination, the March on Washington….

Both will be in history books, true. But which one will have the biggest impact on American History? We don’t know yet. It’s up to America; do we want to focus on fear or on hope?

Obama, for all the reasons those geniuses above listed.

What do you hear about more in history class, Pearl Harbor or the Emancipation of African-Americans? Most likely the Emancipation and the events surrounding that. Don’t ask me why, but maybe it’s because we as American’s don’t like talking about negative things. We’d rather focus on the positive aspects in our history.

The election of Barack Obama is an amazing triumph in the grand scheme of things. This is coming from one of the most conservative people you’ll ever meet.

as much as i hate to say it (being conservative) i would have to say obama

Obama.

Obama is a reaction to the disastrous policies of the Bush administration, which were themselves a reaction to the 9/11 attacks. Don’t you get it?? 9/11 happened so that Obama could be president!!!
But seriously, Obama is a man, not an event. And even if you weren’t talking apples and oranges I think it’s a little early in the hundred days to be measuring out the size of his place in history.

@emt333: I don’t think anyone is comparing a man to an event, regardless of the original poster’s wording. Most of us are comparing the election of a black president—among other things—and a terrorist attack and which is historically more significant.

Too soon to say.

I think emt333 has a point: we elected GWB; 9/11 quickly took place because he
and Bill Clinton before him took inadequate action to prevent it; eight sordid years
passed which proved that the Reagan/Bush/Bush view of economic/domestic/foreign policy was flawed, and we rebounded by electing Obama.

We didn’t elect him because he’s black. We elected him because he’s not an idiot. There were a number of other non-idiot candidates but he was the least idiotic of them. And we were ready to swallow the bitter pill of responsibility by the time the nominations were underway. Finally.

I was saying the election of an African American…it just so happens that Obama is that man. Not that he is an event, but him being elected was.

The election of our first black president will probably be a bigger focus in future history books. It’s a one-time event (not having an African-American president, but having the first one). We’ve been attacked before and will be again. It is a recurring (though horrible) event.

First of all, I think both were played up. The difference is that 9/11 was one of many acts of violence, which in terms of history will go down as just another date, like battles and so on. It has affected the lives of people currently alive (not only in the US, but everywhere). But it will not affect the lives of people in the future that much.
Obama’s election on the other hand is something that will not really make much change, despite of what peolpe are hoping right now. Clinton did not save the world after replacing Bush Sr. He just stopped a war in Iraq and started one in Yugoslavia. And I think Obama will do more or less what Hillary or any other Democrat would have done. But in the history books he’ll go down as “the first black president” and the symbolism of that is immense. He ends the era of segregation and racial discrimination, and marks a new period in not only US politics, but also social relationships around the world.

@jack79: a. Clinton started the war in (the former) Yugoslavia?
b/ Obama ends the era of segregation and racial discrimination?

Wow. I am so a. ignorant and b. skeptical,
I could choke.

I feel that comparing these two events is like comparing apples and oranges. One in insanely horrible and the other is absolutely great. I think they both will stand out equally on their own side of the pendulum.

susanc I am referring to the US bombing of Yugoslavia, not the civil war they had before Clinton was even president. Ok, if you want to get technical, it was a NATO bombing, but guess who decided to have it?

I do not mean that there was an era of discrimination that suddenly stopped last week. But similarly, no historical date is that accurate. There were baroque composers alongside post-modern ones during what some would call “the romantic” period. Or naturalist painters during the heyday of Cubism. That’s the thing about eras. You find one symbolic date (such as the first black US president) to put in a history book, but of course things still happen before and after that date. Apartheid was officially ended years before Mandela became president of S.Africa, and I’m sure there is racial discrimination even today, almost 2 decades later. But it’s certainly not as bad as it was in the 80s.

“in terms of history will go down as just another date, like battles and so on. It has affected the lives of people currently alive (not only in the US, but everywhere). But it will not affect the lives of people in the future that much.”

I don’t think you truly understand history, Jack.

what do you mean asmonet? Are you saying that 911 is an important historical event or that Obama’s election is not?

(snip)

No, I mean the part about just another date, like battles, subway sarin attacks, Hiroshima… I’m sorry but people dying in any way shapes the world in the future, it isn’t just a date it’s a decisive moment. To simplify it to just date is outrageous.

Thought you’d say something like that. Which is why I censored myself. It’s ok.

Where did you do that?

I’ve rewritten this answer 5 times already and the previous one another 3. I was referring to “snip” (there were 2 extra paragraphs there). And you know what? I’ll just snip the rest of this one too. No point in getting anyone upset. Have a nice evening :)

Ah, I’ve never seen ’(snip)’ used in that way before that I can recall. Thanks for clearing it up.