Questioning patriotism
Published: July 3, 2008
Patriotism. The free online dictionary defines “Patriotic” as “Feeling, expressing, or inspired by love for one’s country.” It’s a word we use a lot, especially this time of year.
This is also an election season. And during elections, candidates love to talk about patriotism — how patriotic they are, and how they are being attacked for their patriotism.
While I’ve seen candidates attacked for doing “unpatriotic” things, I’ve noticed that complaints about being attacked far outweigh actual attacks. I’ve also noticed that candidates who complain about being
called unpatriotic often attack their opponent’s patriotism in the process — which seems a bit ironic to me.
But a lot of times attacks are mischaracterized. For example, supporters of Senator Barack Obama spent the week attacking Senator John McCain about his military service. General Wesley Clark
said “I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.” Randy Beers said McCain’s “national security experience” was “sadly limited” because he was a prisoner
of war.
Earlier this year, Senator Rockefeller claimed McCain “dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet” without considering the people below; while Senator Harkins said McCain’s lifetime of military
service was “pretty dangerous.” But these smears didn’t really question McCain’s patriotism, except maybe Rockefeller’s.
On the other hand, attacking Obama for not wearing a flag pin indirectly questioned his patriotism, since being proud to display the flag is generally thought of as a form of patriotism. Frankly, not every
candidate wears a pin, so I don’t see what the big deal was.
Last year, when Obama stopped wearing a pin, he was asked about it. His response was an example of attacking patriotism, as he explained that wearing a flag pin “became a substitute for, I think, true
patriotism” — implying others who sported pins had a false patriotism. So he said “I decided I won’t wear that pin on my chest.”
Senator Obama sought to quell criticism of his patriotism this week, by giving a speech about it. He wore a flag pin, but I don’t think that means he was lacking true patriotism.
Obama rightly noted that “the question of who is — or is not — a patriot all too often poisons our political debate.” We need to debate issues and discuss actions and statements made by the
candidates. And while I expect that Obama, as president, would seriously damage this country, I have no reason to doubt him when he says “I have always taken my deep and abiding love for this country
as a given.”
The notion that a person would run for president in order to do harm to the country is absurd. The last eight years we’ve endured elected Democrats claiming President Bush did exactly that (for example,
last year Representative Stark said on the House floor that our children were sent to Iraq to “get their heads blown off for the president’s amusement”). I think Americans have grown weary of such
baseless attacks.
I know there are Americans who hate this country. But I have trouble believing someone would endure the hardships of running for the presidency if they didn’t care about the country and want to make a
difference, to make things better. They may be incapable of rising to that challenge, and have ideas that would do harm rather than good. But I’d like to think that our candidates have good, if misguided,
intentions.
So, I will challenge Senator Obama on issues of importance to me — a disastrous energy policy, the undermining of our economy, pseudo-environmentalism which makes our lives worse while doing little
to make the world better, the defense of our country from terrorists, the life of the unborn, liberty, and freedom. But I won’t question his patriotism.
Last week, Time magazine published articles from Obama and McCain on patriotism. I’ll close with excerpts from Senator McCain: “Patriotism is a love and a duty, a love of country expressed in good
citizenship. … Patriotism is countless acts of love, kindness and courage that have no witness or heraldry and are especially commendable because they are unrecorded. … The patriot honors the
duties, the loyalties, the inspirations and the habits of mind that bind us together as Americans. … Patriotism is another way of saying service to a cause greater than self-interest.”
Charles Reichley has been a Prince William County resident since 1981. He can be reached at critically .
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Reader Reactions
I do agree with you, this election is about to bring solutions not in political speech, not questions about who is more patriotic. Obama call for change and bring the image of a new kind of politician but for what we are learning from him every day that he is like any other politician, flip flopper, ambitious and use his position in the government for personal gains. Obama call every body to work together, he call to Democrats, Independent and Republicans, but he is one of the most liberal members in congress and never cross party lines to bring something to the floor. He does not bring any solution to stop energy crisis, because not hybrids cars, solar energy or wind are sufficient to replace oil. Obama do not bring any positive changes to improve our economy, he criticizes McCain for be sincere, when he said that he do not know much about economy, but neither he. Obama is asking to set our thermostat over 72 degrees, do not drive SUVs , do not eat what we want , are those the kind of solutions he bring to us?
We need answers in order to make decisions for whom to vote, not just speeches.
This is almost a fair and balanced column; although you seemed to focus on Retired General Wesley Clark’s statement as somehow questioning Sen. McCain’s patriotism, and making a big deal about a made-in-China flag pin that a lot of Republicans don’t wear while conveniently forgetting about the direct Republican-orchestrated attacks on the patriotism of Democratic Vietnam veterans who ran for offices and were attacked on their patriotism.
Those people include fmr. Vice President Al Gore, Sen. John Kerry, fmr. Congressman Max Cleland, and even retired General Wesley Clark himself.
You also forgot to mention that Sen. Obama, on the very day the McCain campaign was having hyperventorama fits over Gen. Clark’s mild comment, Sen. Obama was giving a major speech on his ideals of patriotism. Here is an excerpt of the closing:
“[...] For we know that the greatness of this country – its victories in war, its enormous wealth, its scientific and cultural achievements – all result from the energy and imagination of the American people; their toil, drive, struggle, restlessness, humor and quiet heroism.
That is the liberty we defend – the liberty of each of us to pursue our own dreams. That is the equality we seek – not an equality of results, but the chance of every single one of us to make it if we try. That is the community we strive to build – one in which we trust in this sometimes messy democracy of ours, one in which we continue to insist that there is nothing we cannot do when we put our mind to it, one in which we see ourselves as part of a larger story, our own fates wrapped up in the fates of those who share allegiance to America’s happy and singular creed.“
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