I'm about to run to a staff dinner in celebration of our recent completion of Wider Voice, but, first, I wanted to say a couple of things about the political-going-ons of the day.
The New York Times gives a good context to why there is so much hand wringing in Democratic circles over the whole "Obama is unpatriotic" business here:
Mr. Dukakis defended his patriotism and scoffed at Mr. Bush for wrapping himself in the flag, but, in essence, lost control of the campaign and his own image.
After his loss, in 40 states, many Democratic leaders swore they would never be caught off guard that way again.
I think more revealing, however, is the fact that John Kerry, a veteran was also effeminized and attacked in much the same way Dukakis was. From this, I think it is safe to say that the Republicans are going to attack our candidate's patriotism no matter who it is. What's more, choosing our candidate based on the fear of what the Republican's will do or say about him or her is tantamount to allowing the Republicans to pick our candidate for us. As I wrote earlier, patriotism, according to Republicans, is belief in American Exceptionalism, and, if we choose a candidate immune to these kinds of attacks (a candidate, who, by necessity, would believe in American Exceptionalism), we would get an essentially Republican candidate.
We shouldn't acquiesce, and we shouldn't be afraid. We should fight that framing and fight that narrative.
One more particularly good passage:
Attacks on a presidential candidate’s patriotism are hard for many politicians to take seriously. “Unless you’re talking about the Manchurian candidate, the idea that someone who put their heart and soul into running for president didn’t care deeply for their country is kind of ridiculous,” said Drew Westen, a psychologist and political consultant.
One more thing. Bill Moyers has an incredible statement on Wright-gate; I strongly recommend watching it:
Behold the double standard: John McCain sought out the endorsement of John Hagee, the war-mongering Catholic-bashing Texas preacher, who said the people of New Orleans got what they deserved for their sins. But no one suggests McCain shares Hagee's delusions, or thinks AIDS is God's punishment for homosexuality. Pat Robertson called for the assassination of a foreign head of state and asked God to remove Supreme Court justices, yet he remains a force in the Republican religious right. After 9/11 Jerry Falwell said the attack was God's judgment on America for having been driven out of our schools and the public square, but when McCain goes after the endorsement of a preacher he once condemned as an agent of intolerance, the press gives him a pass.
Jon Stewart recently played a tape from the Nixon white house in which Billy Graham talks in the oval office about how he has friends who are Jewish, but he knows in his heart that they are undermining America. This is crazy and wrong -- white preachers are given leeway in politics that others aren't.
Which means it is all about race, isn't it? Wright's offensive opinions and inflammatory appearances are judged differently. He doesn't fire a shot in anger, put a noose around anyone's neck, call for insurrection, or plant a bomb in a church with children in Sunday school. What he does is to speak his mind in a language and style that unsettles some people, and says some things so outlandish and ill-advised that he finally leaves Obama no choice but to end their friendship. Politics often exposes us to the corroding acid of the politics of personal destruction, but I've never seen anything like this — this wrenching break between pastor and parishioner. Both men no doubt will carry the grief to their graves. All the rest of us should hang our heads in shame for letting it come to this in America, where the gluttony of the non-stop media grinder consumes us all and prevents an honest conversation on race. It is the price we are paying for failing to heed the great historian Jacob Burckhardt, who said "beware the terrible simplifiers". [h/t kid oakland]
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