2,997 casualties, 6,000 more injured, and 1 day to forever remain in infamy within American history. The attacks on September 11, 2001. A flashbulb memory, the image of the smoking towers seared into the minds of spectators, for those in the nation that were old enough to remember in the same vain as the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The story is known to all and the people of the United States continue to honor the memory of those that suffered every year on the anniversary. At the time, however for most it was the sheer feeling of disbelief that was most potent for those that were not actually involved and as when events of such magnitude occur on U.S soil citizens look to the leader of the nation. After something like this it is the presidents job to quell the fears of those he serves for, and George W. Bush used this tragedy as a rhetorical situation to promote the unification of the country and stop the out right panic from spreading. Of course the only promise of hope in situations such as this lies within the future and he assured his that those responsible would be brought to justice and this rhetoric was used to ignite the War on Terror and campaigns in the Middle East. And what became of that future? Well 10 years later Bush’s successor, Barack Obama was able to announce on May 1, 2011 that Osama bin Laden, a leader of Al-Queda, who planned the attack had been successfully taken down. So how does Obama’s rhetoric compare to Bush’s? Bush had to react to a situation that made his America seem weak and assure Americans that this would not go unanswered. Obama, however, was on the other side of this. He had made concrete progress on fading the scar that resides in our nation to this day. While still pulling from the sympathetic and patriotic commonplaces Bush used, Obama was able to use the Cairos of not only 9/11 but the death of Osama bin Laden along with the rhetorical devices to make this a landmark achievement of his presidency and pioneer into his next campaign.