| October 2007 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |||
When we see Obama claiming that he's no longer willing to wear an American flag pin, but that he wants to show his patriotism in other ways, we are seeing nuance that verges on the incoherent:
"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."
A "substitute" for patriotism? Is he saying his fellow Dems wear a flag pin in lieu of being patriotic - that their patriotism is only pin-deep? What a slam on his fellow Dems that would be!
On the other hand, making a point of taking off the American flag pin is a universally-recognized indication of lack of allegiance to our country. Obama's saying that he opposes America unless it adopts the policies he supports.
At the heart of it is an opposition to Democracy itself; he's saying that the will of the people, as expressed at election time, is wrong unless it elects him, or someone else with views similar to his own.
And in referencing Iraq, he shows that his notion of being patriotic is to call for our troops to leave Iraq before they have accomplished their mission. As I recently posted:
There are those in Iraq who are trying - and, in some cases, succeeding in their efforts - to kill our troops in that country. We win when enough of those enemies (the ones still standing) give up.
Every time someone in the U.S. calls for our troops to leave before we win, it encourages those enemies not to give up. It encourages them to keep trying - and in some cases succeeding in their efforts - to kill our troops.
...Anybody who clamors for our troops to get out of Iraq before we win, is contributing to getting more of our troops killed.
Obama has shown that his leadership is dangerous to our own troops, and that he doesn't believe in Democracy.
