It’s time now in the campaign for the various contenders to start wearing down their opposition. Right now the biggest target would have to be Barack Obama, who is widely viewed to be in the lead position in the race for the Presidency.
Obama showed he could stand toe to toe with McCain in a debate in the same week that McCain rushed off hurriedly to the capitol (sort of) to cement the Bailout (didn’t) putting his campaign on hold (not really) then turning it back on to make the debate (theatrics anyone?).
His running mate Biden withheld from tearing Palin into tiny little pieces, but intead let her ramble awkwardly without answering questions, and letting his own responses prove that he had a vast wealth of knowledge on all the topics currently plaguing our country. Palin was unqualified in every way to be taking part in that debate (or this election in general) and knew it. Winking and pandering, giving shout outs like a reality TV contestent, the entire performances was in truth… depressing. The only victory she and her party can count is that she didn’t crumble under the pressure.
So, as the big day draws nearer, and the Reps have realized they can’t really stand up to the Dems on any issues (especially the economy it would seem, though, really everyone seems to be trying to avoid talking much about that) they’ve going back to the old tactics. Dirt and fear.
Palin playing to a decidedly pro-Palin crowd (Joe Six-Pack in the house son) in Florida, a notoriously painful state for the Dems, went well out of her way to paint Obama as foreign and different from Americans. Obama is alien, views our country differently, and associates with people who do not have our well being in mind.
Her Quote-
“I am just so fearful that this is not a man who sees America the way you and I see America, as the greatest force for good in the world. I’m afraid this is someone who sees America as ‘imperfect enough’ to work with a former domestic terrorist who had targeted his own country.”
The “domestic terrorist” in question being Bill Ayers of the Weather Underground, a militant-radical group formed in protest of the Vietnam War and other social issues of the time. Currently his is employed as a Distinguished Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where it was natural that as an activist for education reform he would come across the, at the time, newcomer to the political scene- Barack Obama. The two worked together (with many others as well, it wasn’t like a dynamic duo kind’ve ordeal) on that topic as well as issues of combatting poverty. Obama has said numerous times that he opposed the way Ayers fought violently for his held beliefs during his time in the Weather Underground and really has no connection to any of those acts given that he was only 8 years old at the time.
But still comes the question, is Obama patriotic? Is he “like us”?
I have to say, if he’s not like us, perhaps we should seek to be more like him. Because Patriotism is NOT blind loyalty and raising your hand to chant “USA USA” at every given opportunity. Questioning our country is one of our greatest rights as Americans, the greatest gift of living in a free Democracy. We are permitted, hell, encouraged to speak openly and ask questions of our country and it’s representatives. But don’t just take my word for it, I now hand it over to people far wiser than I.
“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.”- Edward R. Murrow
“No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.”- Barbara Ehrenreich
“The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.”- H. L. Mencken
“I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”- James Baldwin
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”- Theodore Roosevelt
I personally will more willingly stand by the individual who asks questions and defends my right to ask them, than I will someone who values blind obedience, and I truly hope that the American public knows better than to fall for the easy trap of being swayed by fear and negative campaigning.
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