Article: Perceptions of Patriotism by Potential First Ladies

Michelle Obama was recently subjected to some petty, mean spirited, and nasty criticism from members of the fourth estate including right wing radio xenophobes and individual members from among the true believers who professed their pride in the homeland. These good Americans suspect Mrs. Obama is just now starting to experience and these good Germans are now demanding that Mrs. Obama should have been proud of our country since 1980 and embraced the patriotism of the scoundrels that have ruled this republic without question or at least remained silent rather than claim that for the first time in her adult lifetime she was really proud of her country “not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change”.

This being a presidential election year and with John McCain apparently being the standard bearer for the Republican Party regardless of the reality behind recent disclosures which call into question Senator McCain’s relationship with at least one lobbyist it was only natural for Cindy McCain as the potential first lady to respond to Michelle Obama as the rival first lady given the strong possibility that Barak Obama will indeed become the standard bearer of the Democratic Party. That is if Hillary Clinton can put her party and her country before her ego. As such Mrs. McCain’s reply was “I'm proud of my country, I don't know about you, if you heard those words earlier. I'm very proud of my country” thus making a reference to Michelle Obama's comment and thereby calling into question Mrs. Obama’s patriotism by implying Mrs. Obama should have been patriotic from day one.

Mrs. McCain’s blind obedience to the fatherland is influenced by and can best be explained by her past, one in which she was born to wealthy parents, participated in an adulterous relationship with John McCain (without intending any moral judgment whatsoever it just is what it is), financed his political career, worked as a book keeper who couldn’t find receipts during the Keating Five Scandal which involved her husband, Senator John McCain who was accused of corruption, became addicted to Percocet and Vicodin during that same time so much so that she violated federal laws by stealing drugs to support her habit, she got caught and for all this trouble to the taxpayers Cindy McCain only had to make financial restitution and enter the drug rehab program. No wonder she’s so goddamn proud of her country, commit a crime, do no time and indeed years later be better off for it.

Who wouldn’t be proud of a country where they could afford to commit a crime against someone else, avoid incarceration and yet how arrogant to presume that everyone else should share this same perception of patriotism without question. Even the mainstream corporate controlled media neglected, by accident or intent, to question the premise of Mrs. McCain’s claim or at least ask her to explain why she feels she is patriotic while Mrs. Obama is not. Indeed even the so-called liberal media presumed Mrs. McCain had a right to challenge Mrs. Obama’s patriotism without asking her why she thinks she is more patriotic than Mrs. Obama.

After all since 1980 Mrs. Obama would among many other things have to been proud of a country that dealt weapons for hostages to win an election, she would have to be proud of addicting her country indeed her people with crack cocaine to finance the overthrow of democratically elected governments, she would have to be proud of selling weapons of mass destruction to someone who would use them on his own people, she would have to be proud of violating international law by mining the harbors of Nicaragua, she would have to be proud of training and militarily financing those who would rape and kill nuns who supported the oppressed, she would have to be proud of giving aid and comfort to people who would eventually be responsible for 9/11, she would have to be proud of waging a war in which over half a million people mostly women and children were killed, she would have to be proud of a country that exported a vast amount of its jobs to other countries while her neighbors went without, she would have to be proud of a country that wages war on its own citizens, she would have to be proud of a country whose prison population is the highest in the world because of this war on individual liberty, she would have to be proud of a country that only pretends to hold democratic elections, she would have to be proud of a country that should have prevented 9/11 but didn’t, she would have to be proud of a country that waged war based on fabrications and outright lies, she would have to be proud of a country that committed crimes against humanity, she would have to be proud of a country that practiced acts of terrorism from the dark ages, she would have to be proud of a country that spied on its citizens and eroded its constitution in the process, she would have to be proud of country in which all this and more happened and yet no one took responsibility and no one was held accountable.

God damn right - people are finally hungry for change from the same politics as usual that has paved the way forward so the privileged can continue profit at the expense of the nation's interest and in a free society there is or at least there should be absolutely nothing wrong with being proud of the perception that change is possible. Cindy McCain can be proud of her country but she has no right to question the patriotism of Michelle Obama or anyone else who has no reason to share the same perception. In essence Cindy McCain is saying "America, love it or leave it" in response to Michelle Obama's "America, change it or lose it" and the press is once again giving a pass to the privileged by questioning Michelle Obama's patriotism rather than exposing Cindy McCain's demand for blind allegiance.