General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsYes, Obama is different
Rudy Giulianis assertion that President Barack Obama doesnt love his country is absurd on its face, but its true that Obamas view is more nuanced than those of his predecessors.
Sharelines
Obama loves his country, but he's also willing to point out its flaws.
snip
There's no need to litigate this charge; outside of campy political thrillers, no one devotes his or her adult life to national politics or the presidency, for that matter without an outsized patriotism and belief in the basic worth of the United States. But if we're feeling generous, we can say that in the course of his rant, Giuliani touched on a real difference between Obama's brand of national exceptionalism and the kind we tend to see from America's presidents.
snip
The obvious question is, why? Why is Obama more circumspect than his presidential peers? Why does his praise come with a note of reservation?
The best answer, I think, lies in identity. By choice as much as birth, Obama is a black American. And black Americans, more than most, have a complicated relationship with our country. It's our home as much as it's been our oppressor: a place of freedom and opportunity as much as a source of violence and degradation. We're an old American tribe, with deep roots in the land and a strong hand in the labor of the nation. But we're often seen as other a suspect class that just doesn't fit.
As a president from black America, Obama carries this with him, and it comes through in his sometimes less-than-effusive vision of national greatness. He loves this country, but he also tempers his view with a nod toward the uglier parts of our history.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-giuliani-obama-patriotism-perspec-0223-20150220-story.html
elleng
(130,974 posts)they CANNOT accept truth/facts, and they're training the electorate to take that position too.
sheshe2
(83,792 posts)guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)you write:
The best answer, I think, lies in identity. By choice as much as birth, Obama is a black American. And black Americans, more than most, have a complicated relationship with our country. It's our home as much as it's been our oppressor: a place of freedom and opportunity as much as a source of violence and degradation. We're an old American tribe, with deep roots in the land and a strong hand in the labor of the nation. But we're often seen as other a suspect class that just doesn't fit.
African slaves were brought to this country almost as soon as there were European colonists here. 400 years of roots in this country and a President who was born in Hawaii is considered not really American. How can that be? How can they be seen as "other" when they have been here longer than most Americans?
Does some of it lie in the fact that Africans did not immigrate but were enslaved?
Does some of it lie in the fact that the English who stole this land intended it to be their own white theocracy and the African slaves tainted the whole thing. I use the word taint deliberately, as I know about the "one drop" theory of race mixing.
Does the intent of establishing a white theocracy explain the genocide that the English committed against the First Peoples?
As to the last paragraph, it seems to me that many Americans are not much for self-awareness.
sheshe2
(83,792 posts)I don't understand all the hate and probably never will. Is it that whites feel superior? Yes obviously they do. It is the "why" that I can't answer.
It's about race and who is superior, Hitler showed us that when he did his best to annihilate the Jews. Americans did that with Native Americans, when they slaughtered them and stole their land. I have a small amount of American Indian in me, Mohawk to be exact. You would never know it from looking at me, I am watered down, yet my grandfather and dad, it was there.
As for African Americans it's the same, they were deemed less than people because of there color.
Someone from the AA group could answer it far better than I can.
Cha
(297,323 posts)so far.. it won't let me read the link without registering, though.
Mahalo she
However the Rude Pundit gave us examples the day of Obama actually calling out his love for America..
***********************************************************************************
"Want some examples?
Barack Obama, February 18, 2015: " M)ay we all do our part to carry forward the work of perfecting this country that we love."
Barack Obama, February 5, 2015: "May the Lord bless you and keep you, and may He bless this precious country that we love."
Barack Obama, January 28, 2015: "Thank you. God bless you. God bless this country we love."
Wanna keep going? Google is a bountiful bastard...
Barack Obama, September 11, 2013: (We pray for) "our men and women in uniform who defend this country that we love."
Barack Obama, September 11, 2010: "This is how we will preserve and protect the country that we love."
Really, this is just one phrase, not even variations. We could go back further:
Barack Obama, June 3, 2008: (This is) "our time to offer a new direction for this country that we love."
Need it more personal?
Barack Obama, March 18, 2008: " T)hey are a part of America, this country that I love."
If President Obama said he loved this country any more, we'd tell him he was smothering us.
meegbear http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026251978
glowing
(12,233 posts)Do you go about addressing and trying to fix those problems?
BTW, don't tell me that Republicans aren't whijing every day how much they can't stand the President of this country or Democrats or any "other" they've been told to fear and hate? Aren't they saying their is a flaw with America? If they don't acknow the Presidents 2 election wins by very large margins, aren't they denying the system of democracy?
They are the Kings and Queens of projection!
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)To other nations, why, because W has messed up the relationships we had for a long time and still to this day he wants to say he would do anything differently. Obama has taken the weight of a nation on his shoulders, Giuliani only had the weight of NYC. If Obama's agenda been allowed to proceed then we could have seen more evidence of his love for this country.
Journeyman
(15,036 posts)and that the war they were engaged in was God's punishment -- to both North and South -- for the offense in which they shared culpability, an offense so vile it required the destruction of all the wealth earned through it, and further, that every drop of blood drawn with the lash be paid for by another drawn with the sword?
http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres32.html
KauaiK
(544 posts)He is very much a product of Hawaii in his temperament, outlook, and manner. I get it. I'm appalled at the GOP treatment of him from both houses of Congress and the racial hate spewed towards Obama.
pnwmom
(108,980 posts)Obama and the Dems care about actual people. That's the difference.
sheshe2
(83,792 posts)napkinz
(17,199 posts)sheshe2
(83,792 posts)thanks for posting it with the quote, napkinz.
napkinz
(17,199 posts)http://theadvocate.com/news/11657082-123/bobby-jindal-called-rudy-guiliani
Scott Walker: 'I Don't Really Know' Whether Obama Loves America
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/21/scott-walker-obama-love-america_n_6726960.html
RichGirl
(4,119 posts)But they don't love AMERICANS.
Of course they love America. A country where a simple congressman can become a millionaire thanks to lobbyist money and all he has to do is make laws that make the rich richer.