Barack Obama has redefined what it means to be a REAL American

November 6th, 2008 at 11:39am Pat Cunningham

 

David Corn has a GREAT ESSAY this morning on the meaning of Barack Obama’s defeat of John McCain.

Here’s an especially provocative passage:

“In the general election campaign, McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, turned the fight for the presidency into a culture clash. They accused Obama of being a socialist. They assailed him for having associated with William Ayers, a former, bomb-throwing Weather Underground radical,who has since become an education expert. Palin indirectly referred to Obama’s relationship with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who once preached fiery sermons denouncing the United States government for certain policies. On the campaign trail, Palin suggested there were ‘real’ parts of America and fake parts. At campaign events, she promoted a combative, black-helicopter version of conservatism: if you’re for government expansion, you’re against freedom. During her one debate with Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, she hinted that if her opponents won the White House there might come a day when kids would ask their grandparents what it had been like to live in a free country. At McCain-Palin rallies, supporters shouted out, ‘Communist!’ and ‘terrorist!’ and ‘Muslim!’ when the Republican candidates referred to Obama. And McCain and Palin hurled the standard charges at Obama: he will raise your taxes and he is weak on national security.

“Put it all together and the message was clear: there are two types of Americans. Those who are true Americans — who love their nation and cherish freedom — and those who are not. The other Americans do not put their country first; they blame it first. The other Americans do not believe in opportunity; they want to take what you have and give it to someone else. The other Americans do not care about Joe the Plumber; they are out-of-touch elitists who look down on (and laugh at) hard-working, church-going folks. The other Americans do not get the idea of America. They are not patriots. And it just so happens that the other America is full of blacks, Latinos, gays, lesbians, and non-Christians.”

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