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PrintOctober 5, 2007
Obama: A "True" Patriot
Senator Barack Obama stopped wearing an American Flag lapel pin shortly after 9/11 because he says it has become a substitute for "true patriotism:"
Asked about the decision Wednesday in an interview with KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the Illinois senator said he stopped doing so shortly after the attacks and instead hoped to show his patriotism by explaining his ideas to citizens.Of course, by Obama's definition of a "true patriot," those who choose to wear a flag pin or indulge in other outward manifestations of patriotic sentiment are, one supposes, "false patriots." After all, isn't that kind of vulgar display "the last refuge of scoundrels?"
"The truth is that right after 9-11 I had a pin," Obama said. "Shortly after 9-11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq war, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security.
"I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest," he said in the interview. "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 testament to my patriotism."
This is part and parcel of the left's attack on patriotism for 40 years. They create a fake moral framework where the superior "patriot" is actually the American who dissents or who protests - even if that dissent gives aid and comfort to the enemy during time of war.
Jonah Goldberg tried to codify this idea a few days ago:
I've come around to the view that the culture war can best be understood as a conflict between two different kinds of patriotism. On the one hand, there are people who believe being an American is all about dissent and change, that the American idea is inseparable from "progress." America is certainly an idea, but it is not merely an idea. It is also a nation with a culture as real as France's or Mexico's. That's where the other patriots come in; they think patriotism is about preserving Americanness.And beyond the left's weird ideas regarding patriotism, is their constant belittling of those who wave the flag or show their affection for America by referring to this kind of patriotism as "simple minded" or worse, phony behavior. Flying the flag is "jingoistic." Cheering the troops is "warmongering."
Yet the strangest and most ironic aspect of our national culture is that we have an aversion to talking about a national culture. Samuel Huntington, one of the country's premier social scientists, has become something of a pariah for constantly reminding people (in books such as "The Clash of Civilizations" and "Who Are We?") that the United States is a nation, not just a government and a bunch of interest groups.
And it doesn't stop there. How many times have those who wear their patriotism on their sleeve been called "Rambo" or "John Wayne?" Yes there are some who have a very narrow definition of patriotism on the right. But how much narrower a definition can you get than Obama's or the left's?
Obama's hinting that those who oppose the Iraq War are "false patriots" should prove to anyone who isn't convinced yet that this man is not ready now or perhaps ever to be president.
I have additional thoughts here.
