Monday, June 30, 2008

Obama’s Patriotism Speech   [Yuval Levin]

Barack Obama’s speech on patriotism today is, of course, very nice in many ways, and speaks highly of the country that Obama no-doubt loves. It is, however, also driven by a peculiar paranoia and defensiveness, and it offers a very strange depiction of America’s ideals, which he takes, more or less, to add up to the pursuit of greater perfection in the face of imperfection. This was also the theme of his speech on race in Philadelphia back in March, which was also marked by the same sort of defensive posture and attempt to change the subject from anything in particular to everything in general.

Because our imperfection is at the heart of patriotism, he further argues in this latest speech, dissent is not unpatriotic, but is essential to the effort to improve. There is no question that dissent is (in all but a few rare and extreme instance) not unpatriotic, and in some instances it can even be a function of patriotism, to be sure. But is it really the core of American patriotism, or America’s greatness? Obama is not the only voice on the left to articulate this view, and in his case as in others I find it very odd. (I seem to recall Jonah has written something about this, though I can’t seem to find it just now).

There were also some more particular perplexing passages in this speech. Obama thinks this election is “perhaps the most consequential in generations.” Why is that? In what particular ways is it, for instance, more consequential than the last election, or the one before that? Is it just because he's running? He believes that in the debates about the Iraq war, “those who opposed administration policy were tagged by some as unpatriotic.” Like who? What would be an example of that?

06/30 06:07 PMShare