Sad to say, I’m underwhelmed by the new World Trade Center.

I was looking for something really spectacular.

It’s certainly a nice looking building. But it’s the same height as the old World Trade Center. The old one was 1,368 feet.

The new one is 1,368 feet. That’s the height of the highest roof. If you add the antenna spire, it’s 1776 feet — again, about the same as the old World Trade Center.

But the old World Trade Center was TWIN TOWERS.

This is ONE TOWER.

It also looks thinner than either of the old TWIN TOWERS.

The new One World Trade Center is an attractive structure — no doubt about it. Architect David Childs is very good. It’s a gorgeous building.

But the new One World Trade Center is not even as tall as Chicago’s Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower). Soon the Chicago Spire will go up.

The roof on that structure will be 2,000 feet, and will dwarf One World Trade Center.

So my question is this: Why not make the roof on One World Trade Center 1776 feet?

That would be pretty cool.

The current structure’s antenna goes up to 1776 feet, but that doesn’t count.

In fact, that reinforces the point that America can’t build a real building that’s 1776 feet tall. We need to put up a little stick that goes that high.

Heck, I could put up a stick that goes up 2,000 feet. But that’s not really a building, is it?

Frankly, why didn’t we just make it the tallest building in the world?

And I’m talking about roof structure here — not a stick on top of the building.

Literally make this thing a monstrosity that can be seen from outer space.

Right now, the Great Wall of China is the only human structure that can be seen from outer space.

Why not have One World Trade Center also carry this distinction?

I was looking for something really big — really spectacular — something that would send a message to the world that “America is Back.”

Instead, we got this.

So now we have One World Trade Center that is about the same height as the old World Trade Center. But it’s one tower, not two.

To me, this appears to be a victory for Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.

The World Trade Center is now half the size it was.

So bin Laden (dead though he may be) has managed to cut the World Trade Center down to its current size . . . and, by extension, also cut America down to size. So bin Laden is the big winner here. He achieved what he wanted to achieve — diminish America: Show the world that America is no longer the power it used to be.

This is a sad commentary on America’s current political leadership — whether Barack Obama or Michael Bloomberg.

These leaders seem to want a smaller America.

They want an America with a smaller footprint in the world.

Well, we certainly have that now with One World Trade Center.

This is a far cry from John F. Kennedy’s promise that America would land on the moon within 10 years.

Now, we no longer even have a space program . . . of any kind.

America used to be able to do big things, big projects.

That no longer appears to be the case.

It’s more than disappointing that we had to wait more than a decade for this.

The Empire State building stands 1,250 feet to the highest roof, 1,445 to the tip.

It was the tallest building in the world from 1931 to 1972.

The Empire State Building took 15 months to build from start to finish.

One World Trade Center took more than a decade to build.

It’s sad how far America has fallen.  We really can’t do anything big anymore.

We’ve become a lot like, well, France.

File this piece under “America’s Decline.”

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