Questions of patriotism plague candidates ahead of July 4

US Features

By Chris Cermak Jul 3, 2008, 4:07 GMT

Washington - The issue of patriotism has been placed at the forefront of the US presidential campaign this week as the United States celebrates its independence. Democratic presidential hopeful U.S. Senator Barack Obama speaks to supporters during a speech on patriotism at Truman Memorial Building in Independence, Missouri, USA, 30 June 2008. EPA/LARRY W. SMITH

Democratic presidential hopeful U.S. Senator Barack Obama speaks to supporters during a speech on patriotism at Truman Memorial Building in Independence, Missouri, USA, 30 June 2008. EPA/LARRY W. SMITHBoth Democratic candidate Barack Obama and his Republican rival John McCain have aggressively pushed back on questions of their service or dedication to the United States. Obama, who would be the first African-American president, has had the most serious problem. Since his campaign's inception in early 2007, the Illinois senator has been the target of a series of false rumours that raise suspicions of his loyalty to the country. Initially spread through the internet, the claims include that he has refused to recite the US pledge of allegiance, a rumour that perhaps gained credence because in the beginning of his primary campaign, he refused to wear a customary US flag-pin, calling it a substitute for patriotism. Another repeated claim is that he is a Muslim, and even that he attended a radical Islamic madrassa school during a four-year spell in Indonesia as a young child. Obama is in fact a Christian, though he comes from a non-religious family and was only baptized as an adult. His father was a Muslim from Kenya but abandoned the family when he was aged two. Obama was raised mostly in Hawaii by his mother and grandparents. The internet rumours have slowly turned into a regular narrative that can be heard in neighbourhoods across the country. Some of the talk is earnest, others make passive references - a teenager in Washington joking to friends that Obama sought 'Jihad on America,' for example. Obama's campaign has become increasingly concerned, launching a website - www.fightthesmears.com - that is dedicated to rebuffing any and all falsities. The current rumour being knocked down is that Obama was not born in the United States. The site provides a picture copy of his birth certificate - he was born in Hawaii - and encourages supporters to send their own emails to counter 'right-wing smears.' Obama himself has become occasionally indignant at mainstream reporters who have raised the smears on the campaign trail, but he took up the issue in detail earlier this week in a broad speech on the meaning of patriotism. 'At certain times over the last 16 months, I have found, for the first time, my patriotism challenged - at times as a result of my own carelessness, but more often as a result of a desire by some to score political points and raise fears about who I am and what I stand for,' 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,' he said at a rally Monday in the aptly named town of Independence, Missouri. McCain is no stranger to smears himself, after a bitter 2000 campaign for the Republican nomination against President George W Bush. Anonymous opponents of McCain famously spread rumours that the Arizona senator had fathered an illegitimate child. McCain, regarded as a war hero after being held captive and tortured for five years in Vietnam, launched his own 'truth squad' this week to counter any efforts to denigrate his long military service record. The move came after former NATO commander Wesley Clark suggested McCain's military experience did not qualify him to be president. 'I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down (in Vietnam) is a qualification to be president,' Clark said on Sunday, sparking a furore among McCain supporters who demanded an apology. Obama rejected Clark's comments and has regularly said he has the highest respect for McCain's military service, but both candidates' sensitivity highlights the importance that patriotism questions can play in US politics. A late attack on the military service record of 2004 Democratic candidate John Kerry - a war hero in his own right - was in part credited with costing him the general election against Bush. Obama turned the issue back on voters Wednesday, calling for Americans to engage more in public service to their country as they reflected on US independence on Friday. 'Loving your country shouldn't just mean watching fireworks on the fourth of July,' Obama said. 'Loving your country must mean accepting your responsibility to do your part to change it.'

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Wonder who you are pulling for...Jul 3rd, 2008 - 04:53:02

How may times are we going to post this same ode to Obama on M&C?

It is getting as bad as MCSNBC here.

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AMERICAN PATRIOTISM?Jul 3rd, 2008 - 09:21:38

The american patriotism is so crooked, dishonest, transgressive, violation of other's rights etc., that it is shameful to have PATRIOTISM DEFINED BY US GEVERNMENT!!!

USA is the only country in the world that decorated a captain of a ship after THE BEAST DOWNED A CIVILLIAN AIRLINER.

America is being presented as the ROGUE NATION, while the people are good but the government is most corrupt on the face of the earth!!!

IT NEEDS TO HAVE A REAL PATRIOT, WHO WILL BRING THE IMAGE OF THE NATION BACK TO WHERE IT BELONGED, WHEN CREATED BY GEN GEORGE WASHINGTON!!!

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John MJul 3rd, 2008 - 13:46:25

Obama's birth certificate is a fake. The required embossed state seal is missing. Embossing is the process of applying a 3D-like crimp to both sides of a piece of paper. A little more investigative journalism and a little less cheerleading please.

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SP4: Gee, JohnJul 3rd, 2008 - 14:36:44

..where, exactly, did you see this certificate?

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John MJul 3rd, 2008 - 16:33:07

The counterfeit birth certificate is now on Obama's own website fightthesmears

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lanceJul 3rd, 2008 - 16:40:09

Yes, yes. We all know your opinions by now: 'Anyone that does not agree with me is a terrorists'. We need to update The Oxford American Dictionary to define Terrorism:

the use of the opposite of any opinion in the pursuit of political aims.

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lanceJul 3rd, 2008 - 16:53:13

These days, if you don't wrap yourself in a flag and pray to jesus then you are not patriotic.

But, you have to do it the right way. If you tailor the flag in the wrong way then that is called disrespect. If you pray to jesus while not calling muslims terrorist then that is called fake. And you must be of the correct pedigree, from a bible state and have a lineage on the right side of town, you know: The side where slaves and other undesirables were not invited.

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lanceJul 3rd, 2008 - 18:14:38

NEWS BULLETIN: McCain: 'Patriotism is putting country first before all else'

Holy bejesus! Jesus ranks second. I guess since the Supreme Court signs off on killing unborn babies than jesus plays second fiddle to this issue too.

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DaveJul 5th, 2008 - 03:22:30

Lay off the Kool-Aid

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MikeJul 5th, 2008 - 03:26:55

The real question is patriotic to what America. Some are patriotic to the America of our founders and others are patriotic to their new idea of they think America should be which is European type socialism. You chose which way you want the country to go. Limited government or centralized government control over every aspect of our lives. Remeber your choices will affect future generations for a long long time to come.

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