Patriotism and Obama’s Example
Do you find something wrong with Michelle Obama’s words “for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country”? I think I do… at least from conservative point of view. These words dishonor at least one of the meanings of the American patriotism - the one that refers to the past and to the history of a great nation. But they also show a lack of understanding what America is.
They also question all the achievements of Mr. Obama until this presidential campaign and also the past history of the african-american human right activists and politicians. Because Obama is not a isolated example for black politician who achieved something big in U.S. politics. He is just good politician, at least from Democratic point of view.
I understand the liberal point of view that patriotism is a choice, not a just a reverence to the past. It is a choice for those who belong to the fist generation in families that never wrote a success story. But at the same time the world didn’t begin yesterday or in the day someone was born. The social and political tradition of any society determines its present and future. This makes means that liberal view of patriotism is authentic but not exceptional. There’s no choice today for a society which never made choices in the past.
That’s why I really think that Obamas’ understanding of patriotism is wrong or just politically incorrect. It dishonors the American tradition of freedom.
