The politics of patriotism

Senator Barack Obama on Monday defended his patriotism and vowed never to challenge the patriotism of any other candidate.

Speaking in Harry Truman's hometown of Independence, Missouri, Obama said, "I will never question the patriotism of others in this campaign. And I will not stand idly by when I hear others question mine."

Obama chose this moment to speak on patriotism as the nation prepares to celebrate Independence Day this week. He said "the question of who is - or is not - a patriot all too often poisons our political debates, in ways that divide us rather than bringing us together." And he pledged a middle ground approach that understood the excesses of both sides in their rhetoric over patriotism.

Obama Acknowledges Own Mistakes

In a moment of self criticism, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee acknowledged that his own actions might have contributed to some of the questions people have raised about his patriotism. "At certain times over the last sixteen months, I have found, for the first time, my patriotism challenged," he said, "at times as a result of my own carelessness, more often as a result of the desire by some to score political points and raise fears about who I am and what I stand for."

In fact, the issue of Obama's patriotism has come up several times during the campaign.

At an ABC News debate in April, Obama was asked a question by a voter in Pennsylvania who wanted to know why he didn't wear a flag pin. "I revere the American flag. And I would not be running for president if I did not revere this country," Obama said at the debate. "What I've tried to do," he said, "is to show my patriotism by how I treat veterans when I'm working in the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee; by making sure that I'm speaking forcefully about how we need to bring this war in Iraq to a close..talking about how we need to restore a sense of economic fairness to this country."  

Last year the issue came up as well when Obama told ABC News in a separate setting that he did not define his patriotism by wearing a flag pin.

"You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin," Obama told ABC News then. "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 then. He added, "I'm less concerned with what you're wearing on your lapel than what's in your heart."

Obama did not wear a flag pin for the new speech on Monday and did not mention the controversy in his remarks, but he did profess his faith in America. "Throughout my life, I have always taken my deep and abiding love for this country as a given. It was how I was raised," he said. The Illinois senator said his love for America propelled him into public service and said "it is why I am running for President."

Obama also faced questions about his patriotism last year after a YouTube video surfaced showing the candidate at an Iowa campaign event where he did not place his hand over his heart during the singing of the National Anthem.

Asked about the controversy last fall, Obama said, "My grandfather taught me how to say the Pledge of Allegiance when I was 2...During the Pledge of Allegiance you put your hand over your heart. During the national anthem you sing."

Patriotism Debate Not New

The patriotism issue is not new in politics. In 1988, Republicans questioned Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis's patriotism by noting that he had vetoed legislation in his state that would have required teachers to lead students in reciting the pledge of allegiance in schools. Dukakis said the legislation was unconstitutional.

Obama chose his own examples that went further back in history. "The use of patriotism as a political sword or a political shield is as old as the Republic," he said, citing examples where he said "even our wisest Presidents have sought to justify questionable policies on the basis of patriotism."

Obama mentioned John Adams's Alien and Sedition Act, Abraham Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus and Franklin Roosevelt's internment of Japanese Americans as examples of controversial actions defended in the name of patriotism where "those who disagreed with their policies were sometimes labeled as unpatriotic."

As he has done in other major speeches on sensitive topics, the candidate blamed both sides for creating the modern patriotism debate, which he said dated back to the 1960s when "defenders of the status quo often accused anybody who questioned the wisdom of government policies of being unpatriotic" and "some of those in the so-called counter-culture of the Sixties reacted not merely by criticizing particular government policies, but by attacking the symbols, and in extreme cases, the very idea, of America itself."

"Most Americans never bought into these simplistic world-views - these caricatures of left and right." He said, "Most Americans understood that dissent does not make one unpatriotic, and that there is nothing smart or sophisticated about a cynical disregard for America's traditions and institutions."

"No party or political philosophy has a monopoly on patriotism," he argued on Monday.

The Illinois senator also tried to place the issue of patriotism in an international context. "Patriotism is always more than just loyalty to a place on a map or a certain kind of people," he said. "Instead," he said, "it is also loyalty to America's ideals - ideals for which anyone can sacrifice, or defend, or give their last full measure of devotion."

He differentiated America from Zimbabwe, Burma, and Iraq, where those countries' governments have been in conflict with their people recently.

The candidate ended his remarks by offering a redefinition of patriotism, which he said "involves not only defending this country against external threat, but also working constantly to make America a better place for future generations."

Citing the recent Democratic case against Republicans, Obama invoked the federal deficit, the economy, and gas prices as examples where patriotism should lead the country to act in the nation's long-term interests.

 "When we pile up mountains of debt for the next generation to absorb, or put off changes to our energy policies, knowing full well the potential consequences of inaction, we are placing our short-term interests ahead of the nation's long-term well-being. When we fail to educate effectively millions of our children so that they might compete in a global economy, or we fail to invest in the basic scientific research that has driven innovation in this country, we risk leaving behind an America that has fallen in the ranks of the world. Just as patriotism involves each of us making a commitment to this nation that extends beyond our own immediate self-interest, so must that commitment extends beyond our own time here on earth," he said.

He ended his speech as any candidate for president would end a speech on patriotism. With the words: "God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America."