Obama’s patriotism
In recent days, John McCain has begun to openly question Barack Obama's patriotism.1 Seizing on a stump speech line in which Obama said that his win in the Iowa caucuses "vindicated" his faith in America, McCain shot back that "America has never had to prove anything to [him]".
I'm going to leave aside the inconsistencies and distortions of that statement (the HuffPost analysis is a good read for that angle). I'm more interested in this whole dynamic in the race around patriotism.
From where I sit, pretty much the entire basis of McCain's campaign is his heroism as a POW. (He used to be reluctant to exploit that experience, but apparently he got over it.) The logic seems to be that his POW experience gives him a natural edge in military issues, and his service gives him an exclusive lock on the "patriot" frame. I think most Americans see through the latter -- we've all seen enough war movies to know that there is a hell of a difference between a junior officer and top brass, and we understand that, as Joe Biden so perfectly said, "we need more than a good soldier; we need a great leader."
But the patriotism aspect is more difficult to overcome, especially with McCain running around the country declaring, "I'm the only one who has fought for this country, and I've got the scars to prove it!" In these last precious hours, as we try to persuade every last undecided voter, I submit an irrefutable argument that Obama is every bit the patriot as John McCain.
Why? Because in a very real, tangible way, Barack Obama is risking his life to be president. Obviously every head of state runs the risk of assassination. But Obama is special. Not only is he biracial, but he reminds people of Dr. King and the Kennedy brothers. He gives people hope, and our country has a sad record of eliminating leaders who are young and inspiring. Obama knows this -- his family knows this -- but he loves this country enough to literally risk his life for it, as surely as if he were on active duty.
If that's not patriotism, I don't know what is.
1 "But wait," you say. "Isn't that what they've been doing all along?" The McCain campaign as an entity has been using this line of attack, as has Sarah "Pallin' Around with Moose" Palin and high-profile surrogates. This is the first time, however, that McCain himself has gotten in on it.