Michael Crowley says an alleged lack of patriotism will be the main line of argument against Barack Obama. I agree. I would only add that I've heard the term "post-American" tossed around a lot. On the low road, Obama's black and foreign. On the middle road, he's unpatriotic. And on the high-road he's one of those post-American tranzies. Which is, of course, a fancy way of saying he's black and foreign. And thus the loop is closed.
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Plan of Attack
24 Feb 2008 11:59 am
Comments (58)
n alleged lack of patriotism will be the main line of argument against Barack Obama
Main line? I'd say it'll be one of many lines. If it's really their main line, they're screwed. That dog's not going to hunt.
To borrow a line from Jaws, the Republican attack machine is going to need a bigger boat.
The Republicans are going to train their fire on this point, because, unfortunately, many people are inclined to fear that Democrats (and probably especially a black Democrat with a "foreign" background) don't love America enough. Don't know what you can do about that. But, can someone tell me why the Obama campaign isn't getting out pictures of him pledging the flag, etc.? Is this happening? Have I missed it? This point keeps coming up among people I talk to -- that he doesn't salute the flag. They can fix it easily. They should do it and fast.
Don't forget his wife is a recipient of copious amounts of affirmative action who nevertheless (or, perhaps, consequently) hates the majority society. Oh, and the first time she felt proud of America was when Americans started to swoon over her husband.
Well, no, Thomas. In what sense is Obama transnational except his parentage and upbringing? He has spent his entire adult life getting things done here in the US. I don't think there's a whole lot of community organizers jetting between projects in Chicago and, say, Budapest.
If Obama gets painted as post-American, the key ingredients will be his name, his dad, and his childhood years in Indonesia.
Did you mean to search for: trannies
I knew Ann Coulter was behind this.
Sounds right.
Rather striking that various commentators have noted how often Obama gets his crowds worked up into what I think should be called a patriotic frenzy, spontaneously shouting, "USA! USA!" and the like.
What happens when these memes collide? I'm betting on Obama's side winning out, but then I'm an Obama supporter and an inveterate optimist. I think that he's run a brilliant campaign so far, and I think that the Republicans are running on the last fumes of Goldwater-Reagen-Gingrich, and that that won't be enough this time. But they're sure going to go after Obama awfully hard. Can he ju-jitsu them into using all that energy against themselves, roughly the way he has in the primary against the Clintons? That's what I'm betting on, but we'll see.
I think one answer to this meme is to just turn the tables. Last week, Peggy Noonan had a list of smarmy questions for Obama, starting with something like, "Does he confuse patriotism with nativism and jingoism?"
My response was, backatcha, honey: Isn't that YOUR side's problem?
Don't know what you can do about that.
Obama's done a good job of talking about how his story is "only possible in America" etc. etc. I think you could also showcase some of the spontaneous "USA! USA!" chants that have popped up at his rallies and victory speeches.
LoL, Patriotism is ALWAYS the Republican attack plan. Has been since 1868.
Let them attack Michelle Obama and lose any hope of courting female voters. Let McCain spend his time morphing into GWB, It just makes the contrasts stronger.
kyle, it's an ideological charge, not a biographical one.
I'm not much askeered of the "he's a danged foreigner lover" and "he gon' let them terrists win" this time around. The idiots who fall for that are going to vote for the Republican no matter what.
As long as the Obama campaign refrains from saying more stupid things like the Michelle Obama comments, the patriotism line will fail. What makes Obama so compelling is that he's selling American exceptionalism (always a winning product in November elections) from a lefty point of view.
Obama is already pre-butting this line of attack.
Victory speech, Wisconsin primary 2/19/08: "That is how the greatest generation, my grandfather fighting in Patton's army, my grandmother staying at home with a baby, working on a bomber assembly line, how that greatest generation defeated Hitler and fascism and lifted itself up out of a great depression."
It's going to be an ugly campaign but it's not like the GOP can get any uglier than Lee Atwater and Karl Rove. It's not good to pour $100 million dollars of poison rhetoric into any society but I can't see it doing anything other than solidifying a governing coalition for Obama against a racist, xenophopic core of opposition. That core has always existed but for the first time in American history it will be almost entirely in one party and entirely out of power on the federal level. I can live with that.
All he needs to do is say the pledge of allegiance at one of his absurdly gigantic rallies, and this line of attack is turned to his advantage. Then again, he'll probably think of something better.
Well, considering that Obama has pretty much deflected most attacks that have come his way so far, why do the Republicans think they've got his number in the general election campaign? The Clintons aren't exactly pushovers you know, and he seems to be handling them OK. Obama hasn't started to run against the Republicans yet, as he hasn't quite finished off Hillary yet. I think you'll find that when he does focus on the general election, his tactics and message will be appropriate, and the Republicans won't know how to handle it. Throw out the old playbook. It won't work against Obama.
Well, considering that Obama has pretty much deflected most attacks that have come his way so far, why do the Republicans think they've got his number in the general election campaign? The Clintons aren't exactly pushovers you know, and he seems to be handling them OK. Obama hasn't started to run against the Republicans yet, as he hasn't quite finished off Hillary yet. I think you'll find that when he does focus on the general election, his tactics and message will be appropriate, and the Republicans won't know how to handle it. Throw out the old playbook. It won't work against Obama.
Attacking Obama on patriotism is a plan designed for failure. Obama is the American Dream(tm). He will wrap the flag around himself more convincingly than anyone since Reagan, and probably better even than him. This is a guy who makes even the most cynical and America-critical liberals feel patriotic again. If they serve this bullshit up to him, he will crush it out of the park. I honestly look forward to it.
Yes, JB, he's the sort of fellow who is loved by folks who hate their country. But why think that's a good endorsement?
It's clear Obama's going to be nuked both explicitly and using the usual code words as Arab-loving, anti-Semitic, defeatist, unpatriotic and against freedom, both by McCain and the Freedom Watch $250m, as well as a thousand little helpers in the media. And frankly, it's a roll of the dice whether Obama can survive the barrage. Nevertheless, a risk worth taking.
Yes, well, Thomas, you hate your country. And it's really you that's the big enemy. So there.
"Obama is already pre-butting this line of attack.
"Victory speech, Wisconsin primary 2/19/08: "That is how the greatest generation, my grandfather fighting in Patton's army"
That would be his white grandfather. Meanwhile, his black grandfather had multiple wives and owned slaves in Kenya.
Meanwhile, his black grandfather had multiple wives and owned slaves in Kenya.
Spot on! I wonder if our current president has any interesting grandfather noted for his role in foreign affairs?
Strangely unmentioned anywhere in the MSM or on any blog I've read is a photo (flim clip) of Obama failing to perform the appropriate reverent gestures (hand on heart etc) during the singing of the national anthem. Unfortunately this is getting huge play via email transmission and word of mouth, and a lot of people (and not necessarily rightwingers) are concluding that Obama is indeed unpatriotic. My stepmother hates the GOP with a passion but she has flat out said that she cannot imagine voting for a man like Obama ater viewing that film clip (which she checked out on Swopes; it appears to be genuine). I think this mainly plays with older voters (inclduing those of generally liberal persuasion) as my 70 year old cosuin also mentioned it as a raeson she could not vote for Obama. And to the extent that older voters are usually Democratic voters this is a dangerous business.
The Obama campaign really needs to do major damage control on this one, and the blogosphere needs to address it head on. You and I may think it's a tempest in a teapot, but it could cost Obama the White House in November.
Just returned from a visit to my family in the small southern town where I grew up. I talked to a couple of people who are convinced Obama is secretly a Muslim. They didn't use the term Manchurian candidate -- cuz I'm sure they've never heard of the movie -- but even without knowing that term, that's what they think he is.
It runs even deeper than talk about his patriotism -- some areas, particularly rural, and particularly southern -- will simply not vote for Obama. They'll look for excuses and glom onto misinformation like a life preserver. (In the end, it's because he's black.) One hopes the Dems can win without any southern electoral votes, because they may HAVE to do that.
Thomas self-evidently does hate America and everything it stands for. America is a country where with enough luck and pluck, anyone can succeed. We're about to prove America is a country where anyone really can become President. Thomas hates that. You can tell by the rage in which he throws his shit around.
The point isn't what story CAN be told, it's what story will stick. Despite what David Brooks and David Broder may write most people know that EVERYONE has messy family details. You can offer up the worst story you want about Obama's family in terms of political unpleasantness and he can counter with a grandfather in Patton's Army, a grandmother who was Rosie the Riveter. That will be an effective counter for older voters who see Obama as an uncertain and unfamiliar kind of leader. Younger voters are already moving beyond stereotypes of what it means to be 'American' that were always less about patriotism then how to divide America to help the GOP win elections.
I have to really question the sincerity of people who say they won't vote for someone because of his or her lack of patriotism. I mean running for president seems to me to be a patriotic thing to do. I mean you have to love your country first in order to be running for president. In light of that, people who are saying that they won't vote someone because of lack of patriotism were not planning to vote for the person in the first place.
This is not to say this issue should not be addressed. There's now way for Obama to ignore it especially since his wife made that stupid comment.
This really should have read:
I have to really question the sincerity of people who say they won't vote for someone because of his or her lack of patriotism. I mean running for president seems to me to be a patriotic thing to do. You have to love your country first in order to be running for president. In light of that, people who are saying that they won't vote for someone due to lack of patriotism were not planning to vote for the person in the first place.
This is not to say this issue should not be addressed. There's no way for Obama to ignore it especially since his wife made that stupid comment.
Walt, I thought that Nixon's election had already provided modern proof that anyone can become president. Is that something you've forgotten to celebrate all this time?
This may be why Jim Webb or Wes Clark may be his only options for VP.
I will never understand the online left's love of Wes Clark. He's a terrible campaigner, and despite having been a general, he is not respected on the national stage in a way that Eisenhower or Colim Powell were.
Last night on "Real Time with Bill Maher" this was precisely the line of attack taken by Jack Kingston (R-GA).
The counter is simple: Real patriotism is denigrated by those who make name-calling and posing more important than defending the Constitution and the nation.
If American patriotism is really about names and posing, then George Jefferson is the most patriotic character in American history. Got that, Weezy?
John f, Lmao. there is no formal rule that says you put your hand over your heart during the national anthem. There is no military rule dictating it (at least not in the navy).
I would suggest that your grandmother is probably just a racist who is looking for a reason not to vote for Obama. Thats the only reason someone would buy into a made-up rule of etiquette.
When people say that someone is unpatriotic, it really means they don't agree with that person. Nothing more, nothing less.
I rather liked the Michelle Savage line of attack that the fact of her mother (or grandmother, I don't remember which) having been given 'Stanley' as her first name by her father who desperately wanted a boy must prove that Obama has severe early childhood psychological trauma that must have made him unfit for the serious job of the Presidency.
Republican campaign operatives have been using this attack for as long as I can remember. John Kerry looked French. Al Gore was a UN-loving penguin-hugger. The Clintons were dirty hippies. Dukakis was an Ivy League elitist who refused to mandate the pledge of allegiance in schools. etc., etc.
Yes, these swine win some elections with gutter nationalism, but they also turn other voters in lifelong Democrats. I was just a teenager in 1988 when Lee Atwater plied his trade, but I haven't voted Republican for any office higher than county treasurer since. There's always blowback when you start trying to convince a majority of Americans that widely popular attitudes and opinions are Unamerican.
The crucial question is whether the Democratic candidate is well-equipped to turn the "patriotism" attack back around on his accusers. Tank Commander Dukakis clearly was not. Kerry's Vietnam Drag Show at the Convention didn't convince anyone. Obama's rhetoric of patriotism as civic responsibility, however, seems to be working so far. I think he's better equipped to handle the attack dogs than most recent nominees.
Clinton seems to have tried to blunt the inevitable assault by cozying up to the Pentagon and sponsoring the flag-burning amendment. This might work in the general election, but it's certainly less appealing to me.
I have no doubt that such a tactic will redound to Obama's benefit.
I can imagine Obama in a debate with McCain comparing such attacks those that were made against him by the right wing regarding his tenure in the Hanoi Hilton.
McCain will then be forced to become an Obama defender.
KRISTOL: [Obama’s] riding a wave of euphoria. She [Clinton] needs to puncture it. The way you puncture euphoria is reality, or to be more blunt, fear. I recommend to Senator Clinton the politics of fear.
I strongly suspect this is going to do the GOP a lot more harm than good. Obama is very, very good at talking about America in a way that makes Americans proud--in fact that is a big part of his appeal. Attempting to rain on that parade is almost surely going to backfire.
If you search for his name at my site, you'll find plenty of evidence that Obama thinks our southern border is just a line on a map. He also marched for illegal activity at an event organized by foreign political parties and those linked to a foreign government.
MattY might want to propagate this message up a level or two: does the DNC want to discuss BHO's involvement in that march now, or later?
Re: there is no formal rule that says you put your hand over your heart during the national anthem.
Don't tell that to me. I'm not the one making the objection.
Re: I would suggest that your grandmother is probably just a racist who is looking for a reason not to vote for Obama. Thats the only reason someone would buy into a made-up rule of etiquette.
Um, all rules of etiquette are "made-up". We don't arrive in this world pre-progarmmed with them. However I think you are too quick to cry "racism" and you are badly out of touch with the older generation in this country. These people were born back in FDR's day, when WWII and even the New Deal had put a premium on patriotism (and it was not a monopoly of the right either). They were taught, often in school, certain correct ways to treat the flag, to react during the national anthem etc. You may well think these rules are silly, but like many things we learn uncritically as children, these rules are deeply accepted by people of that generation. I absolutely do not want to see another Republican presidency, and my concern is that by shrugging off gaffes like this, Obama's campaign and his supporters do not understand how much damage this sort of thing can do. Please take this seriously and do not simply sniff "racism!" in response. I am NOT bashing Obama-- I want him to win. (FYI: it's my step-mother and my cousin I mentioned. My grandmothers have been in their graves since before I was born).
People have been talking about negative Clinton attacks but those attacks will look like a match-flame compared to a blowtorch when the Republican attack machine gets going.
there will be the whole Muslim thing. Expect McCain to always refer to him as Barack HUSSEIN Obama . We will be told that technically he is a Muslim, because his father was Muslim. And of course Muslims will be identified as THE enemy of America. Fold that in with Obama's reluctance or refusal to say the Pledge of Allegiance( that's the way it will be spun) and his un-American upbringing and you will have the mother of all anti-patriotism attacks. Speaking of his mother, his mother was a secular liberal too and I have no doubt that Republicans will be exploiting that angle as well. Expect her character to be also impugned in a whispering campaign, based on her choices of mates(obviously, no white man thought she was good enough).
This might all seem pretty slimy, but I don't see any limits to which a desperate Republican slime machine won't stoop.
And I haven't even gotten to the drug angle yet. i think its gonna get REAL nasty out there in the general
Monica Crowley on The McLaughlin Group: "What she [i.e. Hillary] has to do now is, she has to club the baby seal to death."
On the low road, Obama's black and foreign.
How exactly would they pass off that Obama's foreign? Because he spent 4 years living in another country? Maybe not the best comparison, but didn't McCain spend 5 years living in another country? Sure it was against his will, but I don't think Obama had the option of leaving either when he was 6 years old.
Because he had a foreign parent, and maybe even because Hawaii seems a bit foreign too.
Spot on! I wonder if our current president has any interesting grandfather noted for his role in foreign affairs?
I believe McCain's grandfather was one of the Founding Fathers, too!
(Cheap shot, well, yes.
stonetools,
Well, the practical limit may be that such a campaign could backfire so badly that the GOP would not only lose the Presidential election in a landslide but also many members of Congress and various state officials.
To be sure, though, maybe they will be so desperate they will try anyway.
Only somebody who had never heard the man give a speech could make such claims with a straight face.
Let's see how the "Straight Talk Express" copes...
{Presumably he will be disowning all attacks made through a loophole in his own legislation, though?}
[quote]One hopes the Dems can win without any southern electoral votes, because they may HAVE to do that.[/quote]
The Dems have been winning without Southern electoral votes since the civil rights era. And Obama could very well take Virginia over McCain.
Soullite - John f, Lmao. there is no formal rule that says you put your hand over your heart during the national anthem. There is no military rule dictating it (at least not in the navy).
If Obama had ever served in the Navy, he would have one of John McCain's excuses - An officer and his enlisted men stand at attention, no hand to heart. But Obama lacks that. Also McCain has difficulty raising his arms because one arm was mangled when he was shot down, the other broken by enemy, and both shoulders repeatedly dislocated by enemy.
Unlike Michelle Obama backtracking from her dislike of America, when John McCain says he he proud of his country and nothing he did in his life served the nation as much as he wanted to serve it - you know he is serious.
How exactly would they pass off that Obama's foreign? Because he spent 4 years living in another country?
Obama's line is that because he is part African and was raised by Muslims - he has unique insights and ways of interacting and empathizing with them that ordinary Americans lack. That he maintains his ties of blood and childhood in the Muslim and Black Africa world to maintain his rapport and special insights.
Now that is huge with Lefties and guilty Jews looking for a Black Messiah. Big bonus to Obama in those small niches!
But Obama's emphasis on his black drifter biodaddy and his so-called critical, defining time in Muslim-Land where he learned so much of foreign mentalities and how to relate to them - has the logical effect of making mainstream Americans think - "exotic, Muslim, foreign, into his African not American roots".
What happens if and when our modern right wing pulls out all the stops with the "he hates America / his wife hates America / he's a danged Mooozlim who trained with Al-Kider in Indonesyer / his wife hates America / he spits during the national anthem / he wears an upside down cross lapel pin" against Barack Hussein bin Jamal al Osama X and he not only wins, but wins big?
If the trash right manages to win, to pull it off through screaming and waving arms about the danged foreign lovin' Mooooozlim radickal with the America-hatin' wife, then the consequences are clear.
But what happens if they spend the election season screaming about El Manchurialatto Candidato and lose, and lose big?
This is a matter of deportment
Yes, Michelle OBAMA should have said "I have never been more proud". And, can say that effectively henceforward.
The point has been made: G. W BUSH and those in the Democratic Party -- the "triangulators" -- who have pandered to the far-right signalling, including the CLINTONS, are embarrassments to us all.
So, Michelle can go ahead and, without apology, say "I have never been more proud". The only people who care, will remember the original point.
As for the rest of the campaign, -- which will be TV and visual -- let me suggest Barack and his handlers get quick training in (1) haircuts, (2) posture, (3) flag custom and protocol.
He already has what, on a white man, would be considered a "Prussian" haircut. This should not change. It is part of a compelling post-racial image he has. He should make sure that his male and female entourage have at least one each conspicuously shorn or coiffed in military style.
He should not wait until after the Inauguration to learn how to use a hat to render a salute, how to brace, usually referred to as "ramrod straight", and other fine points of "military bearing".
Note: "Airdales" -- naval aviators -- are not actually any good at that.
Finally, I maintain that the Democratic Party should be antiquarian or reactionary in matters of patriotic observance. Here are some hints:
Open meetings, in the fashion of the Grand Army of the Republic or, for that matter, the United Confederate Veterans (who fell in love with Col. and Governor Joseph Chamberlain), with flag ceremony, no unctious language at all.
I suggest that Democrats not get "past" -- post patriotic -- the 1950's jingoism of the GOP today, but go back to something far more authentic:
The motto of the US is "E pluribus Unam" -- damn near an OBAMA slogan. It is not "In God We Trust", 1950's red-baiting and the Whig doctrine of "civil religion".
The original pledge of allegiance was for children and consisted of the following:
"I pledge allegiance to my flag
And, to the republic for which it stands,
One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
This should be recited by children, not by adults. Adults -- Senators and common soldiers -- take a solumn oath to uphold the constitution once and for all, also, not only if it is expedient. Americans should not denigrate soldiers who die for that oath, not having read the constitution or having take or taught a class in constitutional jurisprudence.
Ritual repetition of an oath is demeaning. The hand over heart salute is both effeminate and servile: Mit Herz und Hand -- gimme a break: John Wayne was a football player and movie actor, not "a great American hero". Von Trapp was an Austrian U-Boot commander as well as the pater familias of a musical family. Walt Disney was a crypto-Nazi, not a patriot. We need to get real about this stuff.
The best way to open a meeting or a rally is for a "color guard" which can be an individual -- a Sgt-at-Arms -- announcing from the rear "Please rise for the flag of ..." either the US or any state -- they are equal in dignity.
Then parading the flag to a podium or stage, and announcing ... "Barack OBAMA, ..." candidate, nominee, whatever, ... "for President of the United States!"
OBAMA walks to the stage, a little less saunter, more "ramrod straight", and bracing, while the Sgt puts the flag in some sort of stand, then, ... more relaxed now, coming to the podium, and asking "Please be seated".
OBAMA's words are wonderfully inspiring, but they are going to get old and stale fast. Visual cues and, well, choreography work better with, actually, infinite repetition.
::JRBehrman
You know, Stephen Den Beste thinks the coinage of the tranzies is one of the most brilliant articles he's ever read.
http://www.denbeste.nu/cd_log_entries/2002/08/Transnationalprogressivis.shtml
Nuff said.
Chris Ford, channeling his namesake Henry Ford says,
Now that is huge with Lefties and guilty Jews looking for a Black Messiah.
And Barack Obama is the closet anti-Semite. Guilty Jews looking for a Black Messiah? Do you realize that Obama has actually lost the Jewish vote in many key states, including states that he won overwhelmingly like Maryland?
So which is it? Obama is the Black Messiah for Jews, or Barack Obama is the secret Muslim Jew hater? Chris "Henry" Ford seems to know quite a bit about the "Jewish mind."
Do you realize that Obama has actually lost the Jewish vote in many key states, including states that he won overwhelmingly like Maryland?
With his uncritical acceptance by Jewish-owned media organs and his huge haul of Big Jewish donor bucks from Hollywood and NYC financiers?
No doubt Obama is taking the rejection of Jewish feminists and Hillary-suck up teachers unions real bad - as in crying all the way to the bank while being bathed continually by a loving media spotlight...
Is Obama supposed to say, "I ain't takin' no money from that Jew media! I don't want none uv dat Jew money from Wall Street and Hollywood!" Man, right out of Henry Ford's "The International Jew." The Jew-Negro-Communist conspiracy. I guess it still has its believers.
Huh?
He's an american. So am I.
What the F... are you idiots debating?
Well mikevail, most people don't get out of the country much. So those of us who have, particular during our formative years, can come off looking a bit strange when viewed through the filter of a multi-hundred million dollar propaganda campaign.
Comments closed March 09, 2008.
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Heads in the Sand
Well, no. The low road is low. The middle road is crudely put. And the high road is true, but isn't true because Obama is black and foreign. It's a charge equally true of MY and (the new) Al Gore.
Posted by Thomas | February 24, 2008 12:10 PM