What is real patriotism? Does it involve wearing a flag pin? Of course not, and that’s Obama’s position. True patriots want America, the country we all love, to achieve its true greatness. That means standing up and speaking one’s mind when the government is screwing things up.
Obama constantly addresses these themes, and as pointed out in the post below, he spoke to that in his latest speech as well. But he needs to hammer this point home, and address all the silly rumors circulating around the web. A stop on the Larry King show afterwards wouldn’t be a bad idea as well.
Andrew Sullivan has some good advice for Obama, and he touches on this point as well.
Make a speech about the Internet slurs. Stop ducking them. Confront them. Talk about your Christian faith and your childhood exposure to Islam. Tell people about your parents. Debunk that idiotic pledge of allegiance meme. Grab the flag pin issue by the lapels. Do it all at once undefensively. Yes, it will raise the profile of every single slur. But if you rebut them candidly, gracefully, calmly, you will defuse them. You can run but you can’t hide from Internet crapola. So confront it; defeat it. Right now, on these issues alone, the Obama camp is actually captive to the politics of fear. Don’t be.
