It is difficult to imagine a task force report grabbing the attention of our nation’s leaders when the 9/11 terrorists attacks and Hurricane Katrina couldn’t. But if the 9/11 Commission’s final report just gathers dust, it could be fatal.

The commission issued a report card this week on the nation’s response to its common-sense recommendations. The nation flunked in many vital areas. The commissioners were blunt about what’s still needed for homeland security, but too polite in noting the “distractions” that have hamstrung change.

The war in Iraq is the main distraction. While the administration repeatedly asserts that Iraq is the central front in the war on terror, the commission looks longingly at what’s being spent over there and how it could make us safer at home. Even if we could quell the violence, establish a stable democracy and bring the troops home tomorrow, the need to protect the United States against terrorism would remain.

As long as there are fanatics with a violent sense of righteousness, there will be terrorism. That’s why the commission says that another attack on U.S. soil is inevitable. There are steps we should have taken to shore up our defenses and improve our ability to respond once we’ve been hit. But parochial political concerns got in the way.

Who can forget the horror of first responders at the World Trade Center groping about as they tried to communicate with each other. Many lives could have been saved if emergency personnel were using the same radio frequencies. Incredibly, in many major cities today, first responders still cannot “talk” to each other. Hurricane Katrina should have reinforced why this matters, but a bill that would set aside radio spectrum space for emergency personnel languishes in Congress. For this, the commission issued an “F.”

It also flunked Congress for refusing to give up its pork-barrel approach to doling out homeland security money. Instead of basing expenditures on risk levels and need, small-state senators are making sure they get their “fair share.” When terrorists start attacking places like Cody, Wyo., and Winnemucca, Nev., this will make sense. But history has shown they prefer high profile, high population centers.

Our leaders have flunked their initial tests. They managed to defy the prediction that political differences would be buried for the greater good.

The mantra of four years ago was, “Life will never be the same.” Alarmingly, it is the same in the halls of power.