The scene brought us back to a kinder, if horrifying, time.

Somber, the two men who would be president walked side by side Thursday at ground zero in New York.

The seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was no time for politicking.

Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama stressed there would be no political labels on this day, no campaign ads. They were simply Americans comforting other Americans.

With New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Cindy McCain behind them, the two men spoke out of earshot with the families of the victims who gathered for the commemoration where the World Trade Center towers once stood.

Seven years.

Remember the goodwill?

We had been attacked. Nearly 3,000 dead, killed by hijacked planes that smashed into the towers in New York and the Pentagon. Another hijacked plane, United Flight 93, heading perhaps to the Capitol in Washington, crashed over the small town of Shanksville, Pa. Passengers fought to the death with the hijackers on board.

Remember our outrage at the taking of innocent lives?

Remember our pride in our police, firefighters, the passengers who fought back?

SHARED MISSION

Americans of every creed and political bent came together, and a terrified world mourned with us. Many of their people had been killed, too. We were resolute in finding the mastermind of this atrocity, Osama bin Laden, and his al Qaeda henchmen. He was hiding in some cave, with the Taliban in Afghanistan protecting him.

George W. Bush, the Republican who campaigned as a ''uniter not a divider,'' had the support of a majority of Democrats -- until the president veered from bin Laden to Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

So many wrong turns, so many opportunities squandered.

The bad intelligence on weapons of mass destruction, the premature ''mission accomplished'' presidential boasting, the flimsy Humvees putting our sons and daughters in danger until we finally sent the right armor.

McCain and Obama will debate all this in the next two months. Most voters have made up their minds about the war. Republicans still support it, though the split within is widening; most Democrats and independents want out.

But it's no longer the war that consumes public opinion. The economy does.

A CNN poll released Thursday showed 56 percent of Americans rank the economy at the top of their worries. Healthcare followed, with 13 percent.

Terrorism? One in 10 Americans -- 11 percent -- registered terrorism as a top issue.

THE REAL ISSUE

Yet the war on terror affects everything else. The federal budget deficit, the economy, energy policy, our ability to find a solution for healthcare insurance for the millions who can't afford it.

The white noise over McCain's vice presidential pick, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the stupid political posturing about lipstick on a pit bull or on a pig and who said what with what intention about which animal -- it insults voters' intelligence.

McCain and Obama both talk about wanting to focus on relevant issues, but their handlers and surrogates keep going after the cheap shots.

As McCain placed a yellow rose and Obama a pink rose in a reflecting pool at ground zero, I yearned for the kind of discourse that both men are capable of without the dirty tricks.

Naive, I know.

But for just one day, it was worth dreaming.

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