Obama’s Patriotism-It’s not the pin it’s his words
About the Author: Living in Central New York...Married to home remodeling contractor...Mother of two young boys...BA in Social and Behavioral Sciences...ARM Designation (Associates in Risk Mgmt)...17 years in the insurance industry...Currently working as consultant/analyst (insurance)...Love country, 70's, 80's and 90's music...Grew up in suburbs of Philly, PA-hence the love of the Phillies, Eagles and Flyers...Baseball mom (kids tried skating, didn't like it so I can't claim...that I'm a hockey mom-dang, maybe I'll try again this winter!!!)...Like to ski (at least my husband thinks so)...Been a political junkie my whole life, more so after 9/11/01. Read more from this authorPatriotism: devoted love, support, and defense of one’s country; national loyalty.
Nothing raises Barack Obama’s hackles like questions about his patriotism. When he chose not to wear a flag pin he said “I decided I won’t wear that pin on my chest. Instead I’m going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great and hopefully that will be a testimony to my patriotism.” Notice he said “what will make this country great”, rather than “what makes this country great”, but we’ll let that slide.
According to Obama, patriotism has nothing to do with whether or not he wears a pin, but with the words he utters.
Earlier this week a seven year old girl asked why he wanted to be President. He replied “America is no longer what it could be, what it once was.” He went on that his vision of America is “to be kinder, to be gentler.” See Video. Apparently, he share’s his wife’s view that America is a “downright mean” country.
Did love of country inspire Obama to declare on foreign soil “I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we’ve struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people.”?
He couldn’t resist including in his speech on patriotism how as he “got older, that gut instinct - that America is the greatest country on earth - would survive my growing awareness of our nation’s imperfections: it’s ongoing racial strife; the perversion of our political system laid bare during the Watergate hearings; the wrenching poverty of the Mississippi Delta and the hills of Appalachia.”
Are Americans to trust in his patriotism when he can’t even give a speech about patriotism without ifs, ands or buts? Do those words imbue devoted, love, support and defense of one’s country?
It’s like saying to your child “I love you, except for when you were two and threw tantrums, when you lied at the age of 6 and spilled juice on the couch last night. Really, can’t you be more perfect?”
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When you love your country, you want it to be the best it can be. People who follow blindly don’t love their country; they love their party. Those who aren’t outraged over the damage caused by the Bush administration are anti-American.
I think you’re conflating “patriotism” and “nationalism” here. Also, your final example doesn’t appropriately parallel what Obama said. It is more like, “I love you, even though when you were two you threw tantrums, you lied at the age of 6 and spilled juice on the couch last night. I love you, even though you’re not perfect.”
When I tell my kids I love them, that’s what I say. I don’t add “even though”. Yes, they need discipline, but when it comes to my love for them……
Agreeing or disagreeing with an administration does not make you anti-American; not showing pride in your country despite it’s flaws is what makes you anti-American (and there are always flaws no matter what party is at the helm). No matter the validity of this argument, Obama has demonstrated such a lack of patriotism innumerable times in both words and deeds that it’s not even debatable anymore. Any question of patriotism is a scary concept for someone aspiring to be Commander-in-Chief.
You can love your child but not be proud of something he or she did.
So what are his words?
People who are desperate enough to find a reason to hate Obama will believe anything. Has any candidate had to deal with as many false rumors about him/herself as Obama? To date I have been warned not to for him because he: is a muslim, is a terrorist sympathizer, is a black liberation theologist, hates the American Flag, hates America, is a racist, took his Senate Oath on a Koran, supported the election of Raila Odinga - the anti-Christian despot Prime Minister of Kenya, is the cousin of Raila Odinga, won’t say the Pledge of Alegiance, doesn’t support Israel, proposes tire inflation as a complete energy policy and intends to disregard the advice of military commanders as Commander In Chief, among other things.
How many of those lies has this site either willfully or ignorantly propagated?
I totally get what Obama is saying, although it is unclear if you do.
I am proud of what America was. I am hopeful for what America can be. I am ashamed of what America is, right now. These are my words, not Obama’s, but his words resonate with me.
A preemptive war based on lies to the American people. Attempts to circumvent the Geneva Convention. Acceptance of torture. Secret prisons. Special rendition. Domestic spying. The sad part is that I actually can go on and on. Not a one of these things is something to be proud of, and in an earlier time actions such as these would all be considered literally unamerican.
But this is America today. And Obama isn’t proud of it? Well, tell me who would be. Good for him that he isn’t proud of shameful things.
Dear Joe,
Your friends probably warned you against Obama because he was educated as a Muslim, does have long and close relationships with both domestic and foreign terrorists and sympathizers, spent twenty years inhaling a black liberation theology until he was criticized for it, did support the election of Raila Odinga, doesn’t support Israel unless he is addressing a group of Jews at a fundraiser, did proposes tire inflation as an energy policy until his statements were ridiculed.
And now, bizarrely, Obama is unable to demonstrate just how or when he became “patriotic” and so is calling on John McCain to attest to Obama’s patriotism.
And that is the very first example I have seen of Obama “reaching across the aisle.”
You might want to listen to your friends.
Dear Allen
It’s unfortunate for you that you have gullibly bought into some of these same myths. Obama was not “educated as a Muslim”. He attended a public school in Jakarta, not (as many on the right have claimed) a madrassa, not even a religious school.
The extent of Obama’s relationship with William Ayers has been highly assumptive by the rightist media. The known connections are that they were professional colleagues, lived in the same voting district and a that Ayers hosted Obama’s first political fundraiser. Anything more than that lies somewhere between assumption and outright lies.
I’m not aware of any alleged connections Obama has to foreign terrorists. That ought to be a good one.
The extent to which BLT was a focus is also highly exaggerated buy the anti-Obama crowd. Hasn’t it occurred to you that it’s been months now since the pub;ic became aware of Rev Wright and that despite the fact that decades worth of his sermons are available for sale at the Trinity United website, we’ve only heard the same 6 or 7 quotes from the same 3 or 4 sermons repeated over and over? With the armies of rightist media news producers and right-wing and anti-Obama bloggers out there, do you really think there haven’t been many people tasked with pouring over those tapes looking for more gems from Rev Wright? Where are they? All we know for sure is that the guy has said some pretty questionable to dispecable things a handful of times over several decades.
You’re quite wrong about Odinga, I’ve personally debunked that myth at a politics message forum I used to frequent. For my work there, see posts 425 to 494 here: http://rotoguru1.com/cgi-bin/read.pl?board=pol&thread=3098&last=1213387245
The notion that he only supports Israel is also patently false, and is typical of the disinformation campaign against him. For the truth, simply go to vote-smart.org, key in Obama’s name, click “speechs and public statements” on the right side of the page and key in “israel” in the search field.
Inability to demonstrate “how or when he became “patriotic”” is also false. He offered specif accounts of the developments of both his faith and his patriotism in his first book, published 13 years ago.
For the earlies examples of Obama “reaching across the aisle”, why not look at his early public work in the IL legislature, where he spearheaded for state welfare reform?
I suspect that despite all the factual evidence I’ve pointed to here, you will still cling to each of your arguments. For people like you, facts are irrelevant.