Is It Okay To Question a Candidate's Speech on Patriotism?

Monday, June 30, 2008

BARACK OBAMA

There are many (typically) eloquent passages in Obama's speech on patriotism, and it's interesting how much the theme echoes Peter Beinart's essay in Time last week.

Beinart, assessing how the left and right see patriotism, got a few points wrong but some big things right. In particular, he noted that "liberals are more comfortable thinking about America that way: as a nation that must earn its citizens' devotion by making good on its ideals. For conservatives, the devotion must come first; politics is secondary. But for liberals, patriotic devotion without political struggle is often empty." I noted that

If all of your love is for "America the not-yet-realized ideal", sparing none for the country that is actually around you, then yes, I think it is okay to question your patriotism. If you loved your spouse, child, family member or friend for what they could be, as opposed to what they are, I think they would doubt whether you truly loved them at all.

Today Obama made a similar point: "I believe those who attack America’s flaws without acknowledging the singular greatness of our ideals, and their proven capacity to inspire a better world, do not truly understand America."

In light of all this, Obama makes some nice gestures toward criticizing rhetorical excesses his own side. But they're in a strange rhetorical no-man's land — specific enough so that everyone knows who he's talking about, but oddly hesitant about naming names:

All too often our politics still seems trapped in these old, threadbare arguments – a fact most evident during our recent debates about the war in Iraq, when those who opposed administration policy were tagged by some as unpatriotic, and a general providing his best counsel on how to move forward in Iraq was accused of betrayal.

If everybody knows which general Obama is talking about... why not mention MoveOn.org? If you're going to have a Sister Souljah moment, why go halfway? Is it that it's not as easy to find a clear, obvious example of an administration critic being called "unpatriotic"?

Then this sentence:

For those who have fought under the flag of this nation – for the young veterans I meet when I visit Walter Reed; for those like John McCain who have endured physical torment in service to our country – no further proof of such sacrifice is necessary. And let me also add that no one should ever devalue that service, especially for the sake of a political campaign, and that goes for supporters on both sides.

Good for Obama, but presuming the intent is to rebuke of Wesley Clark's comments from yesterday, why not come out and say it? He didn't mind calling out Geraldine Ferraro by name in his speech on racism.

Many conservatives will probably applaud this section: "The loss of quality civic education from so many of our classrooms has left too many young Americans without the most basic knowledge of who our forefathers are, or what they did, or the significance of the founding documents that bear their names. Too many children are ignorant of the sheer effort, the risks and sacrifices made by previous generations, to ensure that this country survived war and depression; through the great struggles for civil, and social, and worker’s rights."

But who removed civic education from the curriculum? Who waged war on "dead white males" and who sought to ensure that the defining characteristic of Thomas Jefferson was his ownership of slaves? These changes to the education system didn't just happen. Again, while the sentiment is nice, the problem is better solved when those who helped create the situation are identified.

06/30 02:59 PM Share