On Lapel Pins and Patriots...

Headline:

“Conservatives say Obama lacks patriotism…”

Apparently this is due to Obama not wearing a cheesy American flag lapel pin and/or not putting his hand over his heart during our national anthem. Obviously he hates America.

But here’s the thing. But what Hillary, McCain, Bush, et. al. don’t get is this: Obama actually generates patriotism. I mean, look at the voter turn out. I’m sure Hilary will take some credit for this; though will continue to be completely unaware of just how disturbed many of us are by her and how this uneasiness propels some to vote.

Obama generates hope, motivates action, and has built up a momentum like no other candidate has accomplished since the 1960s. Those of us gen-xrs (and younger) who have been largely apathetic since… well, our whole lives, are actually voting and paying attention. We feel we finally have a horse in the race who understands our lethargy, is empathetic with our disgust of the partisan fighting, and who knows exactly what we want. We’re excited about the possibility of having a leader who says something different about America, about who we are as a nation… as a people.

I can’t speak for others, but Obama makes me feel patriotic. I get what his wife said, though she was bitterly criticized for it, about for the first time feeling proud to be American. For our generation (her generation) that’s true. Yes, yes, our grandparents endured World Wars and had some great presidents, our parents had JFK (until he was killed), but our generation has never experienced anything but bonehead leaders who hate each other and global disdain for us. We’ve been a little ashamed of how things have been going our whole lives.

Now we have Obama, who gets it. Hilary hasn’t a clue, McCain is so understandably far out of touch with us that it’s absurd, but the O has managed to unify our nation. That’s patriotism. He’s a true patriot. The man doesn’t have to wear a pin, or go through the motions. He embodies what is good about America. He embodies what is good about all of us. He simply is patriotism.