Friday's Guest: "The Patriotism of Barack Obama"

Barack Obama's speech "The America We Love," which he delivered on Monday in Independence, Mo. may have sounded impressive, but a closer look reveals that it was cunningly crafted to target the recent anti-American statements made by religious leaders, like the Rev. Jeremiah Wright -- men who Obama says have guided his spiritual path for more than 20 years.

In this week's "Friday's Guest" column, About.com Guest Commentator Jack Kerwick removes the crowd-pleasing trappings of Obama's speech and exposes the substance of his remarks. Kerwick's column also provides insight into how Obama's latest attempt to garner favor with Independents and crossover Republicans jibes with the ideology he's been brought up to believe.

From the article:

Forgetting for a moment that he doesn’t mention a single person who has allegedly impugned his patriotism, Obama claims these accusations were leveled to “score political points.” He admits, however unenthusiastically, to a lesser extent, they’re due to his own carelessness.

We all get careless. But Democrats in general -- and Obama particularly -- need to ask why it is that only their “carelessness” is portrayed as “unpatriotic.” When was the last time John McCain – or any Republican, for that matter – felt the need to give a speech defending his or her patriotism? Undoubtedly it’s happened, but it certainly doesn’t spring to mind.

Obama’s decision to use an innocuous word like carelessness” to describe his own contribution to the image that he now seeks to deflate is clever, but also grossly inadequate. To misspell a word is “careless.” To surround yourself with people who don’t consider patriotism a virtue and who harshly condemn the US is reckless.