I’m not one of those people that were ever enthralled with Kennedy’s Camelot. I’m too young. My introduction to the Kennedys was the Teddy version, circa his petulant primary challenge to Jimmy Carter. I have the utmost respect for Edward Kennedy, but he doesn’t have the magic of his two more famous brothers. Nevertheless, when I was growing up I couldn’t help but identify the Kennedys with patriotism. It seemed like everyone that was doing public service claimed to have taken their inspiration from John F. Kennedy’s campaign and inaugural speech.
I sense something similar in Barack Obama. It’s especially clear in the way young voters are flocking to his campaign, and it is reflected in his Plan for Universal Voluntary Public Service.
“Your own story and the American story are not separate — they are shared. And they will both be enriched if we stand up together, and answer a new call to service to meet the challenges of our new century … I won’t just ask for your vote as a candidate; I will ask for your service and your active citizenship when I am president of the United States. This will not be a call issued in one speech or program; this will be a cause of my presidency.” — Barack Obama, Speech in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, December 5, 2007
You can see the acorn of a new cadre of patriots in his Obama Organizing Fellows program.
This summer we are looking for people who want to be a part of a new generation of leadership that believes, like Senator Obama, that real change comes from the ground up.
Fellows will be trained on the basics of organizing & campaign fundamentals and then placed in a community to carry out grassroots activities. Fellows will be asked to commit to a minimum of 30 hours per week and will:
* participate in training on field organizing, messaging, and other activities
* organize in a community, working in conjunction with grassroots leaders and campaign staff
* continue to build the movement
I think it’s important to talk about this kind of patriotism because the Republicans intend to make Obama’s love of country a major issue in the general election. Perhaps anticipating this, Joe Klein has started a flamewar with Pete Wehner over the question of whether liberals or conservatives are more patriotic. In most ways I think it is an idiotic argument. But then we see Bill Kristol warn us:
Last week, over drinks, one Republican strategist not affiliated with the McCain campaign mused about how an independent advertising effort against Obama might work. “Barack Obama: He’s not who you think he is” would be the theme. The supporting evidence would come from his left-wing voting record in Illinois and Washington, spiced up with fun video clips of Reverend Wright.
Even some Democrats’ battered-wife syndrome shows through.
And an experienced Democratic operative e-mailed: “Finally, I think [McCain’s] going to win. Obama isn’t growing in stature. Once I thought he could be Jimmy Carter, but now he reminds me more of Michael Dukakis with the flag lapel thing and defending Wright. Plus he doesn’t have a clue how to talk to the middle class. He’s in the Stevenson reform mold out of Illinois, with a dash of Harvard disease thrown in.”
We are going to get really tired of talking about flag lapels and whether you should put your hand on your heart during the national anthem and Rev. Wright. All of these things will be used to suggest that Obama isn’t patriotic enough. But, to my mind, his ability to inspire a generation of men and women to dedicate themselves to public service is about as patriotic as it gets.
You don’t make a career of civil service pay unless you love and care about your country. That’s the message we need to get out.
I am so fucking tired of this idea of questioning someone’s patriotism. I’ve just about gotten into rumbles at concerts and ballgames when I refuse to take my hat off for “God Bless America”. Once a rather large man (must have been 350+) gave me shit and asked me why I didn’t love my country. I told him if he thought taking a hat off meant one was patriotic then maybe he should question his own definition of patriotism. He didn’t like that very much.
He probably thought it was the national anthem…dolt.
Does this mean we have to remove our hats and genuflect when they play “A Horse With No Name” by America?
That beats praying to Bush. I honestly thought it would be compulsory at one point.
OK, that’s seriously messed up. Almost as messed up as pictures like this:
Is this supposed to represent the trinity??????
Oh my God. It’s one thing to pray for folks, but folks neither represent themselves nor the person they are praying for as the trinity. Idolaters.
I think it’s more of an effort to try and link Bush in the same context as Lincoln and Washington. Bush as a great leader, wading through dangerous and trying times, making hard decisions and in the end achieving victory, all the while keeping his faith in God and inspiring the country.
You know…….lies!
I know I genuflect whenever American Pie comes on the radio.
As for me, I’ll only genuflect for Butterscotch or Cherry Pie.
Hey, pie is pie. Except of course for moose turd pie.
My granddaughter, for reasons known only to her, has adopted “I like pie” as her expression of choice when feigning stupidity. She says it with this dopey look on her face that you can’t help but laugh at.
Ugh. I wish we could get past the whole pledge of allegiance nonsense. I haven’t taken the pledge since I was old enough to understand what it meant, and the intervening years have done nothing to change my mind about it. It’s objectionable on so many levels I wouldn’t know where to start, and the Eisenhower-era addition of “under God” is really the least of it. The same can be said of probably the only thing I agree with the Jehovah’s Witnesses on, which is that it is idolatrous. Then there’s the betrayal of the principles of the Declaration of Independence in the word “indivisible”.
But the real objection is that key word, “allegiance”. It’s so un-American. The United States, as the founders understood it, was the expression of the popular will of the people. We own it. It does not own us. We are citizens, not subjects, and the use of feudal terminology like allegiance is inappropriate to the point of being actually subversively anti-democratic.
Obama didn’t put his hand over his heart during the pledge? Big deal. What’s that supposed to mean, anyway? This is the 21st century; we know that the seat of both thought and emotion is the brain, not the heart. Perhaps people should put their hands on their heads when reciting the pledge.
Or maybe we can just stop confusing symbols with substance. You can teach a parrot — or a Republican — to recite the pledge of allegiance, but it doesn’t make them patriots.
no, he didn’t put his hand over his heart for the national anthem. I don’t know about you, but my experience is that you stand and remove your hat. A hand over the heart is not required or even that common. That’s for the pledge.
Jesus, I’ve been at baseball games where people never stopped eating their hot dogs, let alone put a hand over their heart. I refuse to believe the American people are stupid or shallow enough (anymore) to fall for this piffle.
But when I see this:
…I just have to laugh. From where I sit, “a career in civil service” (outside of delivering the mail etc) is a way for people to accumulate wealth, enter the revolving door between industry and politics, and best of all get themselves into the incumbent protection racket that keeps them well-fed for decades. Or, in cases like Jay Rockefeller, BushCo, and the Kennedys (who I heart), it’s the family business.
Maybe people START their career in civil service because of love for country blah blah blah. But most people, I suspect, maintain that career because the perks and pay are really really good.
Maybe I’m cynical. Of course, i just saw “progressive” Nancy Pelosi and not-so-progressive Steny Hoyer just dump $150,000 to save crooked Al Wynn’s ass a few months ago. And even then it took two tries to rid Congress of the rotter.
Also, I live in Pennsylvania, home to such champions of the people as Vince Fumo, Arlen Specter, Rick Santorum, John Murtha, Chris Carney, and Phil English. Oh and Ed “You’ll Have a Slots Parlor in Your Neighborhood and You’ll LIKE IT” Rendell.
In fact, I cannot recall the last time this so-called “love and care about your country” I’m hearing about has actually resulted in, you know, actual benefits for the country.
Right now I live in a place where the Democrats won an election due to the unpopularity of the War at home and abroad, and have done nothing but CONTINUE THE WAR!
My country also is led by Democrats who voted to legalize torture, repeal habeas corpus, and who have tried again and again to give AT&T retroactive immunity from prosecution for breaking the law.
“You don’t make a career of civil service pay unless you love and care about your country. That’s the message we need to get out.”
I predict you will have trouble getting that message out because no one believes it. I would have an easier time believing in the Easter Bunny.
perhaps I should have been more specific. Plenty of people work in civil service because it was a job in the classifieds and they were qualified.
Hopefully, you understand my elitist point that people that could make oodles in the law or business or some other field are making a sacrifice to go instead into a career with the State Dept.
I just visited the department of state’s web-site to see what salaries and benefits are available.
In comparison to say, “Corporate Lawyer for Verizon”, joining the State Department might be a sacrifce in terms of salary (in terms of connections to US government and foreign government contacts, not so much).
In comparison to, say “Public Defender” or “Cop” or “Teacher”? That’s not a sacrifice at all. It seems quite lucrative to me. Government shares the cost of your health and life insurance, the pay is about $10-$15K better than I make in human services, 30-45 days of leave dependign on if you’re in the US or abroad… I don’t know booman. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me.
I’ll bet you meet some really good people for your inevitable return to the private sector too.
But again, I tend to see most people as innately selfish and self-interested as opposed to altruistic, so perhaps my perspective is a little biased.
yeah, well, while Reagan was telling us to be greedy and that the government was the problem, you were out doing the punk rock thing. A perfectly nihilistic and appropriate response. This is a new generation, brendan, and these kids are inspired by government service.
And when they end up being my age, they will be just as disillusioned.
good god, i sound like susie.
But there’s a difference between someone working in the civil service and former Hill staffer/political appointee/officeholder. Big difference. They are the ones that really cash out, not your GS-9 hoping to make it to the next grade. They aren’t starving, but sure…they could be making more. Just ask the contractors they often supervise.
I worked most of my life in the Post Office. I used to joke that I dropped out of medical school because I wanted to serve the community.
Providing the service of delivering mail actually is benefit to the community.
At one point it was a pretty good blue-collar job for unskilled labor, but the Republicans have been privatizing parts of the USPS, especially over the last seven years. Plus, worker protections we used to have through the DOL and other venues have been weakened by political appointees at the top of those agencies. Finally, the bargaining power of the unions have been greatly weakened, like for most blue-collar jobs, by GATT, NAFTA and other traitorous trade deals that gutted the working class.
The new test of patriotism: if you ain’t making war or are war and fear mongering, you ain’t patriotic. You’re un-American. So you need to wear a flag lapel pin to avoid being tarred.
That gives Obama 3 strikes. He’s against the war and does not wear a flag lapel pin. He associates with the wrong people. He’s black and blacks aren’t regular folks…don’t understand America.
We had no patriots before 9/11 and “homeland” department of security
I’ve seen the videos that’ll will be deployed by GOP.
but not just GOPers. watch this video from Hillary supporters:
and from the Coulters
wanna bet the Obama Organizing Fellows program will be seen as un-American?
McCain’s call for a respectful campaign will be ignored.
wanna bet the Obama Organizing Fellows program will be seen as un-American?
Of course. That accusation was made on a pro-Clinton blog when they brought up Saul Alinsky.
Obama is smart to defend Wright and to not back down on the lapel pin issue. A John Kerry or Al Gore or Bill Clinton would have surrendered to the Republican goons on these issues a long time ago and in the process would have given a signal to the American people that we should all fear Republican threats about our patriotism. Giving in to a bully simply legitimizes him and his arguments–no matter how juvenile they are. Obama is smart to ignore the bullies and try to speak over the bullies and to the vast bulk of the rational voters.
We also need to realize that these are “false flag” political issues. Obama’s patriotism isn’t at issue here. No sane person can equate a flag pin with patriotism. What’s at issue is whether Obama will cower in fear at the Republicans’ feet like most Democrats have done in the last 10 plus years. Republicans are testing him to see if he can withstand their standard irrational temper tantrum without giving in.
I have grown so sick and tired over the years watching Democrats go all wobbly over shit like this. And it is refreshing to finally see a candidate who is at least willing to confront it head-on for what it is, a non-issue.
I can’t help but wonder if John Kerry had stood up in the beginning of all the Swift Boating and windsurfing obsessions and said to the American people, straight up, “This is fucking stupid, and all you Americans know it!”
As soon as you start trying to explain to the accusers directly, they’ve won the battle. You have to throw it back in their faces. Otherwise, it sticks.
And if Democrats had the courage of their convictions they would welcome this fight! I would! Democrats should take this opportunity to attack. Would a patriot let Bush illegally spy on Americans without a warrant? Would a patriot blindly follow Bush to the depths of hell to start war after war? Would a patriot give GOP businessmen preferential contracts during a war? That is the true test of patriotism that Bush and the GOP failed. They failed to act like patriots.
Therefore, to hide their failures from America they bring up false accusations involving flag lapel pins.
It’s such an easy charge to rebut. It’s like a GOP goon saying Obama is gay because he was wearing a pink shirt. One would respond by saying that plenty of straight men wear pink shirts and actually, people that are overly concerned about men wearing pink shirts probably have latent homosexual tendencies themselves–and therefore I would question the sexuality of the Republican goons. In fact, Republican goons seem far more likely to be having illicet gay sex and it’s no wonder that these closet gay goons spend so much time talking about Obama’s shirt. See how easy it is?
Now we just need Democrats that actually have the courage to believe that patriotism isn’t defined by one’s lapel pin and is willing to fight the Republicans on this issue. Are there any such Democrats out there? I haven’t seen a commensurate counter-attack yet. Were is the withering indictment of Republican patriotism? Can’t the Democrats at least do political theater anymore? Just pick one person that can do an adequate job of indicting and prosecuting (metaphorically) Republican patriotism. Democrats should understand that this smear is geared to all Democrats, not just Obama.
The Democrats have an opportunity to define patriotism as something other than constant war-mongering. Republicans are laying down their best card–years and decades of marketing that has branded the Republican party as the patriotic war party. The media has also unfortunately helped build this stereotype up. The fact the Republicans are willing to go all in on Iraq and to use a big metaphoric stick such as the charge that Obama isn’t patriotic because he doesn’t wear a lapel pin shows how desperate they are. It’s all they have. So they finally get their war hero candidate and will be running on almost explicitly on war and patriotism. That’s all they have. Let’s take this election to define patriotism in America. Let’s make this the big issue. If Obama loses by fighting head-on then so be it. He will have lost but at least he will be doing the hard work to change American opinion about Republicans and patriotism. Democrats are doomed unless they finally turn around and join the battle. Running from this doesn’t work.
One frustrating thing to me is that the blogosphere is rife with people who can dish this stuff out on a daily basis. We all read it every freaking day!!! But the Democratic politicians, whether due to the fact that they are so deep in their insular bubble or just not wise enough to understand how it’s done, seem totally tone deaf to the technique. They allow themselves to be swamped by the conventional wisdom of the Washington insiders and all this does is turn them into fearful conflict-avoiding eunuchs.
That is probably why some people call Obama ‘arrogant’. He doesn’t back down on the little things and he does take a stance. He doesn’t let the GOP scare him and I think that for too many Democrats that just not how it’s done.
Hey BooMan, not only is Obama apparently unpatriotic but undemocratic as well.
The attacks are coming hard and fast now.
Quite the screed from Sean Wilentz, contributing editor at The New Republic.
The New Republic, in case anyone needs to be reminded:
All of her consiglieri are in MAD mode.
I was just about to go there. Her sycophants are in a tizzy.
They had years to learn, understand and digest the rules. Someone with her experience should have known and prepared accordingly.
I stopped reading his tripe after the third paragraph. It’s just ridiculous.
Until they work against you.
Just ask Pervez Musharraf.
And for the record, he should not be our model.
“you’ve got mail”
Here’s a little cheese
to go with that whine.
Everybody knew the rules going in, and they are what they are, so I don’t really see what the point of this op ed is, other than to say something logically equivalent to “If my grandmother had three wheels she’d be a tricycle.”
Clinton campaign chair photographed holding Obama signs
Somehow, I don’t think The Boss would approve.
I wonder if Obama ever called his wife a cunt in public like the distinguished Sen. McCain apparently did:
Swell.
Wow! I don’t know about everyone else, but I can only surmise that if most of us married men pulled something like that, we would likely wake up one morning to find our manhood stored in a shoebox on the top shelf of the wives closet.
Um, yeah! I won’t tolerate being called that in private….but in public?!
I would never call my wife something like that, even in private. You just don’t do that to someone you really love. She sometimes teases me in similar ways — saying “If you can’t find the comb, go get a sponge” when I say I need to comb my hair, for instance — and I huff and puff and bluster a bit, partly because my hair isn’t particularly thinning (receding, yes, but not thinning particularly), but mostly because it’s more fun to huff and puff and bluster and put on a show for the onlookers.
Cuts heal, bones mend, bruises fade, but a word, once spoken, can’t be unspoken. So I try really hard not to say things I’m going to spend the rest of my life wishing I hadn’t.
I can’t figure out how to paste the pic, but this is how a couple should look.
I have to admit…it is hot to death! It always makes me want to reach for my hunny…
Oh my!
I KNOW!! I fully respect them both, but wow! I almost snapped my neck from the double take I did when I first saw this picture.
Proof positive that you can take a smokin’ hot picture fully clothed and without being completely obvious.
Hmmm, what do you suppose he just whispered into her ear? Certainly nothing along the lines of what McCain called his wife.
That picture is a lot sexier than anything Playboy can churn out. You’re right AP, fully clothed and not obvious always beats out someone who is trying way to hard to be sexy.
Hmmm, what do you suppose he just whispered into her ear? Hmmmm…indeed!
That picture is a lot sexier than anything Playboy can churn out.
That’s the second thing I thought about–it could never touch this. Nothing about this picture looks artificial or contrived or gratuitous.
Wow. Nothing in their campaign is “ordinary” (in the sense of what we’ve come to expect to from Dems) and that’s fantastic.
Smash the mold into dust; sweep it up and sprinkle the dusty bits into the ocean!
That photo is on a button that reads Michelle for First Lady.
That’s wow! I’m going to go plant a big one on mr. fab right now!
That’s foul. I’d beat his ass or die trying. You don’t get so angry that you call your wife a trollop and…the c-word–and in public. I can’t even type it. Disgusting!
And let me ask something: Just why the hell is this son and grandson of admirals so full of anger? Since he was a teenager? What did he ever have to be angry about back then? And why hasn’t he grown up?
It seems it’s taken all of McCain’s 71 years to equal half of Obama’s wisdom–on a good day.
What a way to start a day.
It is like Obama is reading my mind. I knew we needed more ogganization and grassroots education. The media is afraid of that and will lie every day about Obama.
But people are smarter and they will see Obama is the real thing.
Barack Obama could have wtitten his own ticket to however much he wanted to make coming out of college.
But he went to the Southside of Chicago, in the baddest part of town. Sorry, channeling Jim Croce.
But he worked for people and that is what will make him a greqt President.
I just got this email from a local Obama campaign volunteer.
THIS is patriotism.
Hello everyone,
Our first litter clean up day has been scheduled for April 19th, 2008 from 10:00am – 1:00pm. I have attached a flyer for this event; I ask that you please forward this on to individuals within your community group and your community. If possible, please print the flyer out and post it on telephone poles (my contact info is on it so people can just rip off a tab if they are interested). If any of you have a question you can reach me at xxxxxxxxxx
Our first “mission” will be the xxxxxxx area but this is just a test run, we will be expanding to all 18 neighborhoods immediately following this event. I have laid out the outline of the Weed & Seed’s Neighborhood Restoration plan at our last meeting and this is just one aspect of it, there will be a lot more to follow.