A buzz rose in the bar as people realized what was about to happen. Lucille hushed the room.

In his earnest manner the president explained that it was time to either commit this nation to wiping out the scourge of terrorism or accept the reality that we will be fighting these people without resolution for the rest of our lifetimes “and our children’s lifetimes. We are at war with these terrorists in every way except officially. For too long we have been fighting this war with one hand tied behind our back. To rectify that, to take the fight to our enemy as we have never before been able to do, tomorrow I will be submitting to Congress a request for an official declaration of war against terrorism.”

The Ballroom exploded with a burst of noise. Lucille screamed, “Shut up! Just shut up, everybody. C’mon.” As the noise subsided, I glanced at Jenny. Her bottom lip was quivering, her way of releasing pent-up emotion. A dubious look crossed her face. “I don’t know about this.”

Wrightman turned in his seat to look into a second camera, a director’s interlude. “Many of you will wonder what that means and how it will affect you. The easy answer is, not very much. In most ways this is simply a legal declaration that allows your government to take greater steps in pursuit of those who wake up every morning plotting to destroy everything this nation stands for. In real terms, it will have very little impact…”

The president continued for several more minutes. It was a deeply emotional speech, delivered in a carefully rehearsed heartfelt tone. The guy could sell a Yankee cap to a Red Sox fan, I had to give him that. As he wound into his big finish, he said, “You gave me the greatest honor any American can receive when you cast your votes for me, and now I am asking you for your trust. I give you my solemn word…” He thumped on his chest to show how much he meant that. “Every step I take will be done with your personal safety and the welfare of our great nation at the forefront. This declaration will enable our fighting men and women to seek out and destroy terrorists wherever they may be hiding.”

He turned and faced camera one again. The stagecraft was really well done. “At crucial times in our history our forefathers were called upon to move boldly with courage and confidence into an uncertain future. Now it is our turn to prove the sacrifices they made for you…”—pointing directly into the camera at us—“… were not in vain.” After asking every American to call, write, email, and tweet their member of Congress to demand that he or she stand up proudly for America and the future of all of our beautiful children, he closed with an abundance of God blesses.

While he was speaking, the White House had long-tweeted to the media the official request the administration would be submitting to Congress. In it, Wrightman quoted President Woodrow Wilson’s stirring 1917 demand to Congress that it declare war on Germany: “[T]his is a war against all nations … American lives have been taken in ways which have stirred us very deeply … Our motive will not be revenge or the victorious assertion of the physical might of the nation, but only the vindication of human right, of which we are only a single champion.”