Obama Shifts to Countering Republican Attacks on His Patriotism

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Obama Shifts to Countering Republican Attacks on His Patriotism

By Julianna Goldman
Last Updated: May 19, 2008 00:01
May 19 (Bloomberg) -- The flag pin that appeared on Barack Obama's lapel is just the opening salvo of Operation Patriotism for the Democratic presidential candidate.

The Illinois senator overcame his longstanding reluctance to wear a flag pin after he was presented with one by a veteran in Charleston, West Virginia, on May 12. Obama is trying to head off what advisers expect to be a Republican effort to impugn his patriotism. His campaign plans to emphasize his family's military ties, his work on behalf of veterans and his life story, said Richard Danzig, an adviser who was Navy secretary under former President Bill Clinton.

Obama, 46, may be vulnerable on the patriotism question because he doesn't have a personal narrative that people can easily understand, and not wearing a flag pin and other issues have ``put him on the non-patriot side,'' said Peter Hart, a Democratic poll-taker unaligned with a candidate.

``He has to plant his roots,'' Hart said. ``His mother has to become an important part of his story and he has to show people he lives an all-American life, with his children and other things, so voters can say, `we understand that; he's one of us.'''

With a lead in delegates to the nominating convention over his Democratic rival, New York Senator Hillary Clinton, Obama is pivoting to a general-election campaign against the presumptive Republican nominee, Arizona Senator John McCain. Obama's advisers are trying to avoid the fate of the 2004 Democratic candidate, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, whose campaign was undermined by attacks on his Vietnam War record by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

Obama's Values

``It is making sure people know who Barack Obama is and his values,'' said Robert Gibbs, Obama's communications director. ``We would not let any campaign or any group of people characterize or attack Senator Obama as somebody who didn't love his country.''

Obama plans to use speeches and campaign events to reinforce his patriotic image to America by evoking his grandparent's military background. He also plans to speak sometime this summer near Punchbowl National Cemetery in Honolulu, where his grandfather is buried.

``My grandfather -- Stanley Dunham -- enlisted after Pearl Harbor and went on to march in Patton's Army,'' Obama said in Charleston. ``My grandmother, meanwhile, worked on a bomber assembly line while he was gone, and my mother was born at Fort Leavenworth.''

Uniquely American

Obama's advisers said he would describe his life story as a uniquely American one. The campaign also will roll out more supporters among retired military figures and younger veterans, and plans to highlight Obama's legislative record.

That strategy was on display at a May 13 campaign event in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill introduced him by describing his work on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee.

``There has been a lot of misinformation out there about who this man is and how much he loves his country,'' McCaskill, 53, said in an interview. ``It is one of the things he needs to communicate about.''

The flag and other patriotic props will be displayed more often, Danzig said.

``It's very important to convey a sense that these symbols don't belong to one party or another, they belong to all the American people,'' said Danzig, 63, a fellow at the Washington- based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

McCain's Service

As he runs against McCain, who spent five-and-a-half years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, Obama plans to argue that patriotism signifies more than a flag pin or military service.

``When our troops go into battle, they serve no faction or party, they represent no race or region, they are simply Americans,'' Obama said in Charleston. ``Allegiance to these ideals has always been at the core of American patriotism.''

Obama told a May 12 rally in Louisville, Kentucky, that Republicans ``are going to try to run a campaign that's about me, they want you to think, maybe, Obama, you know, sometimes he doesn't wear a flag pin, sometimes his former pastor says some offensive stuff.''

Republicans said the attacks won't come from McCain, 71, who will take the high road, likely emphasizing his own service. Instead, independent groups and individual activists will be the ones pointing out Obama's liabilities.

Independent Groups

``You'll see a lot more things coming from people who aren't running the traditional 30-second ad,'' said John Feehery, a Republican strategist.

In addition to video sound-bites of his former pastor, the ammunition may include a photograph of Obama not holding his hand to his chest during the national anthem; false charges that he is a Muslim; his acquaintance with former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers; and video of Obama's wife, Michelle, saying she has never been proud of her country before this year.

To counter these attacks, Obama is calling attention to the congressional debate over an expanded G.I. Bill that helps veterans pay for college. Obama supports the bipartisan measure, while McCain doesn't.

McCain ``thinks it's too generous,'' Obama said in Charleston. ``The true test of our patriotism is whether we will serve our returning heroes as well as they've served us.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Julianna Goldman in Michigan at [e-mail]
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=axg8sEeN3dLA

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