Obama and McCain on Patriotism

Over at Parade Magazine they have written pieces by both Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama on what they believe Patriotism is really all about. You can read the respective stories here:

John McCain on Patriotism

Barack Obama on Patriotism

My first impression after reading both articles from the respective Senators is that Senator McCain delegated the written work out to a staffer. Throughout the piece you get the feeling that the Senator lives in the past and in all the things that were once great and very much Patriotic. For the record I have never questioned his patriotism to America. We don’t live in the past and as far as I know, the founding fathers did not fight the Revolutionary War for bragging rights. Telling people about the past is nice but we live in a time where the future is much more important than the past and the American experiment that Jefferson and Adams believed in has changed just a bit.

His one political jab against Senator Barack Obama was this one sentence from the above referenced article; “ Patriotism is deeper than its symbolic expressions, than sentiments about place and kinship that move us to hold our hands over our hearts during the national anthem.” In this one sentence is where I find political hackdom and not the real John McCain writing the piece. This was a direct slap at Senator Obama for his decision for not wearing his flag pin for months concerning his choice to not support the Iraq war. Mind you, most of the people in the Senate and the House were pissed that Bush lied to all of them and were stuck with a John Kerry flip flop debate. You know, I was for it before I was against it but I’m strongly against it now sort of thing.

When McCain speaks of talking to Veterans I have to laugh out loud. Every bill that came up in supporting Veterans he voted against because his conservative base does not want to pay the bills for the wounded Veterans that they proudly send to war. Wave the flag but screw the poor bastards that come home wounded. Yes, he has been to Walter Reed numerous times but he did nothing till the Washington Post broke the story wide open. He waves the flag of patriotism but he said it himself, they come home to hard times. His words not mine, and his Senate votes have not been on the side of Veteran’s for years.

As for Senator Barack Obama’s piece in Parade Magazine I thought it was not staffed out. It was to damn personal not to be. When he talks about his Grandfather and his days in Hawaii you can see that he was raised to be a good man by experience. When you read Senator Obama’s words you get the feeling of looking forward and not back. Forward is the direction our nation must face and he described best in this one line from his piece in the above referenced article; “ In the end, it may be this quality that best describes patriotism in my mind—not just a love of America in the abstract, but a very particular love for, and faith in, one another as Americans.”

In that one sentence he summed up what he is all about as an American running for President. It isn’t about him, it is all about you. Just as John Quincy Adams and Thomas Jefferson had a dream of a better America for generations to come, documented those dreams, fought for those dreams, these founding fathers set a precedent that is not understood by many. In that sense Barack Obama has patriotism down pat and does not need a lesson from anyone in any political circles including yours truly.

Papamoka

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Politics, War and Our Troops

At the time that this article is written 4,071 American families have lost a loved one in the war that our nation is in. Many of the kids fighting in this war will eventually face the same politics that our troops in Vietnam faced. As someone writing from a liberal perspective I want it known that my thoughts against the war are not against any of our troops in any single way. They are political thoughts to hopefully bring them all home safe and sound.

As a child I was the son of a WWII Navy veteran that served as a medic attached to the Marines. All of my life I wondered why my father never wanted any of his children to go into the military and follow in his footsteps. It’s an honorable service and for the most part builds a sense of character that one can never appreciate as a civilian. Serving your nation, offering your life in defense of your country and all of the good and bad things it has to offer its people is a greater sacrifice than most people will ever face in a lifetime.

From time to time I can imagine why my father chose to keep his children out of the military. As a medic he had seen the cost of war first hand on many soldiers and marines. Their blood touched his hands first on the battle field and changed his life forever. On Iwo Jima he spoke of the fighting that went on around the clock for days and he finally passed out with exhaustion but found comfort in a large comfortable object and slept for several hours nestled in sleep with his head resting comfortably. That object was a larger than life dead rat but it was the best night of sleep he had in weeks.

In politics today they talk about the war in Iraq as if it is something for somebody else to worry about. Most Americans don’t even think about the war in their day to day lives other than the headlines we read in the papers. Have we become numb to the body count and our children coming home in caskets day after day? Are we ignorant that our kids are still risking their lives every single day in Iraq while we debate politics and personal gripes on healthcare and whom is the best candidate to offer the best solution to Americas future problems?

We as a people need to recognize that our fight for justice over the attacks of 9/11 are over. Our troops need to come home and defend America on the homeland. Our troops need to come back to the land they love and the land they have defended honorably. The mission in Iraq is over. The war is won. That fact is proven by the number of dead of our nations enemy that compares to the sacrifice paid in our own war dead. In some reports the number of Iraqi dead in the war is over one million. Percentages work against any nation willing to attack America ever again. Nut job terrorists hiding behind any nation may not care that in a room of ten terrorists that less than one half of one percent of them will survive. America is not playing around anymore with nut jobs.

Our nation faces an economic crisis that can continue to funnel billions of dollars out of our nations economy to support the efforts in Iraq or it can focus those dollars on the people at home. Bringing our troops home is not accepting defeat in Iraq. Iraq has never in its nations history been stable unless a gun has been held at its peoples heads. America and our military is not about that.

Bringing our troops home is the beginning to the end of the ugly America out to bully the world and the end of the George W. Bush legacy. Now is the time for the olive branch over the sword.

Papamoka

Syndicated:

Bring It ON! and To the Center

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McCain Cries, Rockefeller and Obama Cave

Hold the freakin’ presses! John McCain takes offense to the truth? The latest hubbub is that Senator McCain was offended by remarks from another Senator simply because he spoke the truth. If that isn’t a Bushism then I do not know what is? McCain demanded an apology from the Senator and Presidential candidate Barack Obama simply because the Senator in question endorsed him?

How dare his fellow politicians say that McCain couldn’t spot a regular guy if they were cleaning the windshield of his car in DC. That would probably be a homeless PTSD Veteran but that is another topic for another day. Over at the New York Times they have this latest political blow out on McCain…

West Virginia Senator Apologizes for Comments on McCain

By KATE PHILLIPS
Published: April 9, 2008

Senator John D. Rockefeller IV personally apologized to Senator John McCain of Arizona on Tuesday after remarking in an interview that Mr. McCain’s years as a Navy fighter pilot would not have given him an understanding of everyday issues faced by Americans.

In an interview in his home state, West Virginia, on Monday, Mr. Rockefeller, a Democrat, told The Charleston Gazette that Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, could not relate to the everyday concerns of people on issues like health care.

According to the article, Mr. Rockefeller said: “McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet. He was long gone when they hit. What happened when they get to the ground? He doesn’t know. You have to care about the lives of people. McCain never gets into those issues.”

On Tuesday, the McCain campaign demanded an apology, not just from Senator Rockefeller, but also from Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, because he has received the West Virginian’s endorsement. - New York Times

Why don’t we all apologize for the plague in the fifteenth century and of course for that dreaded Cain and Able incident. Better yet lets be mega politically correct and apologize for the inquisition, Attilla the Hun, Alexander the Great, and just to be on the safe side, that dreaded New Coke mistake a few years back.

Senator Rockefeller and Presidential candidate Obama should not be apologizing for the truth. Was John McCain not a pilot that dropped bombs from thousands of feet up? Did John McCain ever see the effects on a personal level when those bombs dropped? Is it not a fact that John McCain wants the markets to find the “Floor” on the housing crisis thus proving he does not understand the middle and lower classes? Is it a fact that he has said himself that he is not well learned on the economy? Something that effects the common man every single day. It’s all true so why are they apologizing?

I’ll give McCain credit for his service to our nation in our armed services but that does not give him a free pass on the truth. While many of our citizens have served, just as many have not. Does military service make him immune from political questions? It’s freakin’ politics! Rockefeller and Obama blinked and it was an idiotic blink. It showed a wimp mentality in each of them simply because McCain played his military history card.

Where the hell was McCain when all the mistreatment of our military troops was going on at Walter Reed? I’ll tell you where he was, he was at Walter Reed again and again and again. He did nothing till the whistle blowers screamed loud and clear in the press. John McCain did nothing because it didn’t serve his cause till he needed to play it. Those troops in squalor didn’t matter till it was advantageous to McCain and then he spoke loud and clear on the air with Imus in the Morning.

It’s ironic that McCain is playing his military service card and demanding apologies. What about an apology from McCain for our troops still fighting to survive in our own nations military hospitals. What about an apology from McCain as a US Senator that allowed Veterans Administration funding be cut on his watch for all our aging veterans? What about an apology for WWII Veterans as they are told there is no place in the hospital for them? What about an apology from McCain for the current status of care for wounded veterans that only lasts for a few years and then they are screwed? Wasn’t he in the Senate when all of this bashing veterans benefits legislation was passed?

John McCain is a hypocrite hiding behind his military record. Being a soldier does not make you a God! Forgetting those that served and ignoring their needs while caving into the Bush administration makes McCain just as bad as the Concierge of the Hanoi Hilton.

My humble apologies to all Veterans but the truth is what it is.

Papamoka

Cross posted at To the Center

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Veterans Day 2007

For most people this day is just another day and it should and should not be that way. In one respect the service of our military is in service to our people so that our society may continue as a whole. There are no guarantees in America but there is the right to voice your opinions in protest of war. In the other respect, many men and woman in our military have died to make our lives what they are today and should not be forgotten. Many more have survived battle only to be lost and forgotten as the wounded warriors of yesterday.

Watching a documentary called The War by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick on PBS today made me thankful for the courage and fortitude of all veterans of WWII. So many lives were lost in the battles of the war and yet they persevered to liberate Europe and ultimately defeat the Axis Alies. Then I thought about the people that survived the many battles during the war and how grateful I am that they did. My father being just one of the many.

One point in the documentary jumped out at me to show the true spirit behind the fighting American military forces in Europe. Upon reaching the Rhine, General George S. Patton Jr. stopped halfway across the river on a pontoon bridge. Since the start of the war he had always wanted to piss in the Rhine, right there in the middle of the bridge, and in front of all of his men, he pissed in the Rhine! Not to be comical but what a pisser!

From my heart to the hearts of all Veterans I submit this humble post to thank you for all that you did in the past, present and in the future. You will never be forgotten by this political writer.
Papamoka

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