Obama's patriotism tour: the last refuge of a Democratic scoundrel

Obama kicked off his patriotism tourset to run through the July 4th holidaywith a speech entitled The America We Love, delivered in Independence, Missouri. The site was chosen not merely for the towns name, but to establish Obamas connection with its most famous sonHarry Truman, the Democratic president who ordered atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In the 24 hours leading up to the speech, the presidential race was dominated by a media-generated furor over a remark made by Obama supporter Gen. Wesley Clark, in an interview on a Sunday television talk show.

Clark, appearing on CBS televisions Face the Nation responded to the moderators remark that Obama, unlike his Republican rival John McCain, had no military experience, had not ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down. Clark made the rather obvious point that getting shot down in a fighter plane was not a qualification for president.

The howls of outrage from the McCain camp were answered by Obamas immediate repudiation of Clark. The contrast between the cowardice of the Democrats and the implacable attitude of the Republicans during the 2004 presidential election, when they waged a campaign to defame Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry by claiming that he had lied about his Vietnam War record, could not have been starker.