"Suicide" might be strong, but the left certainly amputated itself from
full-throated patriotic sentiment. Most Democrats speak mellifluously about
unity but get tongue-tied or sound as if they're just delivering words
plucked from a political consultant's memo when they talk of patriotism
(Virginia Sen. Jim Webb being a major exception). Sen. John Kerry, who made
his name vilifying the Vietnam War, suddenly wanted credit as a patriot for
the same service when he ran for president in 2004. His opening line at the
Democratic convention - "I'm John Kerry, and I'm reporting for duty" - was
cringe-inducing. The words came out as ironic, almost kitschy. The message
seemed to be, "I can play this game better than that chickenhawk George W.
Bush."
When Democrats do speak of patriotism, it is usually as a means of finding
fault with Republicans, corporations or America itself. Hence the irony that
questioning the patriotism of liberals is a grievous sin, but doing likewise
to conservatives is fine. That's how then-candidate Howard Dean could, with
a straight face, insist that then-Attorney General John Ashcroft "is no
patriot. He's a direct descendant of Joseph McCarthy."
Indeed, the one area in which Obama explicitly invokes patriotism is in the
realm of economics. He proposes a Patriot Corporation Act that he claims
would reward corporations that keep jobs in the U.S. ("Now here is a Patriot
Act everyone can get behind," gushed William Greider of The Nation.)
Michelle Obama famously declared last month that her husband's candidacy
elicited pride in her country for the first time in her adult life. I'd like
to think that's not really what she meant, but it's at least a sign of how
ill-equipped she and so many others on the left are when it comes to
discussing such issues.
And it's a crying shame, despite the fact that the Democrats' rhetorical
disadvantage is a huge boon for the Republicans. One cannot credibly talk of
love of country while simultaneously dodging the word and concept of
patriotism. And, I would argue, one cannot sufficiently love one's country
if you are afraid to say so out loud. Better that our politics be an
argument about why and how we should love our country, not about whether
some do and some don't.