Front-page WaPo. The questions come on cable and radio talk shows, and sometimes from skeptical voters at his own rallies. "Hi, Barack. I am a supporter, a believer and a volunteer for you, and I'm trying to convince my mother to be one also," a woman said at a campaign event last week in Kokomo, Ind. ". . . One of the issues she has heard is that you do not address the flag."
As Sen. Barack Obama tries to secure the Democratic presidential nomination and turn his attention to the presumptive GOP nominee, Sen. John McCain -- a war hero who survived more than five years in enemy captivity -- he is facing a crucial test of one of his driving themes: redefining what it means to be a patriot.
It's what I say it is, you morons!
In forceful tones, he has warned against using the Sept. 11 attacks to "scare up votes instead of as a way to bring the country together," condemned the "politics of fear," and demanded an end to the "mind-set that got us into war" in Iraq. When asked in October why he does not wear an American-flag pin on his lapel, he took the question head-on, saying he had worn one after the terrorist attacks but had stopped because it "became a substitute for . . . true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security."
Last week, it became more apparent just how much Obama has riding on the bet that Americans are prepared to define love of country the same way. His former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., resurfaced with new fiery commentary on the nation, prompting Obama to break with him a day later.Republicans and conservative commentators added the episode to their evidence portraying Obama as out of the mainstream -- his association with a former member of the Weather Underground; wife Michelle's declaration that "for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country" because of her husband's electoral success; his remarks about "bitter" small-town voters; and false rumors that he does not pledge allegiance to the flag, sparked by a photograph showing him singing the national anthem at an Iowa fair without his hand over his heart.
Adding to Obama's challenge is the Republicans' selection of McCain, who with his ever-present Navy cap, military lineage and loyal following of fellow veterans exudes traditional notions of patriotism. A McCain-Obama race would present a contrast between a battle-scarred former fighter pilot who believes in seeing through the war in Iraq, and a man 25 years his junior whose half-Kenyan roots symbolize Americans' increasingly diverse origins, who did not serve in the military, and who argues that the country's values have been threatened, not upheld, by the Iraq war.