Obama in tough spot of defending patriotism

Patriotism might be the major issue against Senator Barack Obama if he is the ultimate democratic nominee for president in 2008. Just the fact that he has to defend his patriotism is not a good sign for him, especially going against a distinguished Vietnam War hero in John McCain.

I personally don't think it matters that he served only two years as a U.S. Senator and had very few accomplishments in that time (if that's true). It doesn't matter, because I believe that any one of us, from a lowly RT to the most well educated lawyer, can serve as president.

If you will look back a bit into the annuls of history, you will see that Abraham Lincoln was a self taught lawyer who had very minimal experience in Washington and actually lost his only bid to become a U.S. Senator. He became a pretty decent President.

But Patriotism is a big deal. I have received forwards via email that talk about how Obama was raised by Muslims, and only recently became a Christian. In fact, he may have become a Christian when he decided to go into American politics.

Some of these emails have stated that Obama wants to become president so he can destroy America from the inside out. Personally, I don't think he could do that even if he wanted. Not only would he end up ruining his presidency if he tried, he'd destroy the Democratic party. His democratic cohorts would never allow that to happen.

Thus I don't believe these attempts to trash Obama.

Even if he is a Muslum under it all, I do not think that will ultimately effect his run to the office of the president. I just don't believe that will even be an issue.

There has also been mention of Obama not placing his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance. That is not good. However, he may be able to argue that the picture was not taken during the pledge, but right before or after. It will become a he said she said argument for the people to judge.

There was Obama refusing to wear a lapel pin with the U.S. flag on it. This is definitely not good. However goofy it will be not to vote for someone just because he doesn't wear a lapel pin, sometimes all it takes is one tiny thing to sway voters one way or another.

Plus there was this comment by Michelle Obama: "For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country. Not just because Barack is doing well, but I think people are hungry for change."

What was she thinking?

The defense by Obama's team was that she was taken out of context. That might even be the case, and probably was considering the media.

But read verbatim by normal Americans like you and me, the statement makes her look like she thinks we've been a bad country until just now. Yes, it is true we haven't been completely perfect, such as what was evidenced by years of slavery, segregation and racism, but we have been the leaders when it comes to freedom, as well as many other great things.

The fact that Obama wants to pull out of Iraq regardless of how the war is going will give Conservatives the ammo they need to charge that he is Anti-American because, as they will charge, he wants the U.S. to lose a war. This may not be true, but it will be a charge that is hard for Obama to counter, especially among democrats who support the war, and independents.

Thus, if you want America to lose a war, which conservatives will argue is what Obama would be implying if he does pull the troops out of Iraq, you are not Patriotic. If you pull troops out, especially when it's looking more and more like we are starting to win this thing (however it is still way too early to know for sure), he may be seen as the candidate of defeat (which, in turn, will be seen as unpatriotic).

And, when the republican nominee is a Vietnam War hero, defending patriotism is not something the democratic nominee wants to do. McCain may get caught up in his own scandals, who knows, but it appears, at least at the present time, that Obama might be Swift boated just as John Kerry was in 2004.

Swift boated, according to Wikipedia, is "jargon that is used (primarily) as a strong pejorative description of some kind of attack that the speaker considers unfair or untrue—for example, an ad hominem attack or a smear campaign."

That, coupled with the fact that Obama is more liberal than McGovern, of whom many say lost his bids to become president because he was viewed as way too liberal, may be, in the end, what seats John McCain in the office of the president of the United States of America.

This may not be fair, but it's what has become of American politics. Whether one likes Obama or not, Freadom Nation hopes that Americans vote for the candidate who has the best stance on the issues, and not based on what he or she has learned from a smear campaign.

Regardless, Obama will have to be very careful.