This paper considers the discursive terrain of American foreign policy, by drawing out key narrative linkages between Ground Zero and Guantanamo Bay. It is argued that recent debates over the memory and memorialisation of September 11th draw on the same competing narratives that presently constrain President Obama’s ability to change the direction of American foreign policy. During the recent ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ debates, Obama struggled to persuade the majority of Americans of the need to reaffirm and defend constitutional rights because he speaks from an embattled Jeffersonian tradition. The rhetorical deck remains stacked against him, as resonant Jacksonian voices continue to dominate. This unfavourable discursive landscape was established shortly after 9/11. If Obama is to deliver on his promise of ‘change’ in American foreign policy, he must encourage Americans to reconsider their deeper, underlying understandings of the War on Terror, including constructions of an evil, monolithic, Islamic enemy. At present, the dominant memories of 9/11 that defeated Obama at Ground Zero continue to limit his options at Guantanamo and beyond.
