Obama's Spin On Patriotism

By Clarence Page, Tribune Media Services on Jul 2, 2008

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Sen. Barack Obama has been wearing his American flag lapel pin again, most appropriately during his speech this week in Missouri on patriotism. His critics may call that a flip-flop. I call it a sign that he's learning.

As recently as the debate before the Pennsylvania primary the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee gave eloquent reasons why he didn't think a flag pin was as important as the patriotic beliefs he held in his heart. But flag pin lovers vote, too.

It's too bad that so many voters invest so much in symbols, but that's a reality of politics and human nature. Polls show a small but not insignificant slice of voters continue to question Obama's patriotism, especially in white, working-class areas.

Obama, like any other candidate, has to address the unspoken anxieties of Middle America, including anxieties they might have about him. Obama's support during the primaries tended to come from the college-educated, voters under age 55 or those who made more than $50,000.

Voters don't all have a lot of time or inclination to spend analyzing issues and biographies, no matter how much I, as a news media worker, wish they did. They are more likely to look for signs and symbols that indicate the candidate, if elected, will do the right thing once they're behind closed doors.

Sen. John McCain's heroic wartime biography gives the presumptive Republican nominee a big edge in patriotism points. Obama, the beneficiary of a rapid rise to prominence, also is burdened by it. A lot of people don't yet know who he is and what he believes. Worse, he has been dogged by Internet-fueled smears, including false rumors that he will not recite the Pledge of Allegiance, place his hand over his heart during the national anthem or wear an American-flag pin on his lapel.

That's why values like patriotism matter. So does the manner in which you define it -- especially to people to whom "change," the big theme of Obama's campaign, has not always been kind.

Ever since the late 1960s when conservatives came up with jibes like "limousine liberal," Democrats have wrestled with a paradox, a growing divide between their presidential candidates and the working class voters that their policies are intended to help. If ever there was a year well suited to a Democratic comeback, this is it. Polls show McCain is having trouble holding on to evangelicals and other religious voters who supported Republicans overwhelmingly in recent decades. Disillusionment has set in among them about the war, congressional scandals, concern about global warming and jitters about gas prices and the economy.

So I call it a sign of Obama's political education that he launched into a week of speeches in swing states in Independence Day week with his flag pin gleaming on his lapel, yet also explaining in his own terms that that flag means to him.

When Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., sparked a firestorm of controversy, Obama responded with a stirring speech that called for a new dialogue on race in America. In similar fashion, his speech on patriotism in Independence, Mo., tried to get in front of the discussion and broaden it into one that touched on broadly held American values.

He quoted Mark Twain, a proud Missourian, who wrote, "Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." While we always hope our leaders and government will "stand up for our ideals," Obama added, when they don't, "then the dissent of ordinary Americans may prove to be one of the truest expression of patriotism."

A century ago the satirist Ambrose Bierce defined a conservative as "a statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the liberal, who wishes to replace them with others." Of course, he was being sarcastic, describing each side in terms used by its opponents. Patriotic conservatives prefer to think of themselves as preserving what's good about America, while patriotic liberals aspire to make America better.

The larger message of Obama's outreach is that neither political side has a monopoly on patriotism. We only have different ways of expressing it. Once we get past arguing over who believes most in the American dream, we can have a serious debate about how to make that dream work for everybody.

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E-mail Clarence Page at cpage(at)tribune.com, or write to him c/o Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, NY 14207.