"Not to mention that 9/11 will be a seven year old event in 2008."
We simply don't know if there will be a 9/11 or worse between now and then.....
That's also part of the problem. If there is another one. New people will get the credit for handling it well, it could be in LA it could be in NY it could be in any major population center. Also the current adminisration would probably get blamed for it happening.
It's a classic lose/lose situation: No incident = forgetful voters, New incident = changed dynamic.
The only safe thing to do is discount the politics of terror down to nothing as we quantify unknowables.