So, here's the deal. I completely understand my many conservative friends' concerns about Barack Obama. He is inexperienced, and he has not fleshed out his various proposals in enough detail to evaluate them to an optimal extent. We cannot be entirely sure about who we are getting as our next President, but here is the point.
Barring some catastrophe, Barack Obama is going to be our next President. So attacking his patriotism, his character, and his past associations at this point is akin to attacking our country.
Conservatives love to say they love our country, as if others do not. "Patriots" love to pretend that serving this country in military uniform is the only way to demonstrate loyalty. To me, as a former Peace Corps Volunteer, this is a very narrow and a very parochial view of what America has been, and may yet again be, in the world.
I love my country as much, if not more, than any conservative I've ever met. I'll match my work and life against anyone else's. People like me, Baby Boomers who protested against a stupid, unnecessary war in Vietnam, as well against the horrible racism that surrounded us as we grew up, are, in my view the most loyal Americans.
We did not join the military, which was the automatic way to express your patriotism, but chose a more difficult path. We actually cared enough about our country to tell our government when it was wrong. We spoke out, put our own lives and futures on the line.
Starting in 1971, I worked with returning vets from Vietnam who were traumatized by their time there. They formed a group called Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW.) Many of the leaders of this group became friends of mine, including the man whose life the movie "Born of the 4th of July" was based on.
As I talked with these guys, who were plagued by so many problems -- alcohol and drug abuse, violence toward friends and family, confusion as to how to fit back into our fast-changing society, I gradually came to realize that our paths had been traveled in parallel.
All of us loved our country, equally. We all were idealists. But we also shared a deep disappointment with what our country had become.
Plus, we realized, it was politicians who divided us, each from the other. First and foremost, manipulative men like Richard Nixon.
It's too late for all of that now. I call on all conservatives to unite behind the next President of the United States, Barack Obama.
Why? Because if you truly love this country, you will abandon partisanship and help him build our society back up to what it ought to be, not the third-rate, has-been nation that George W. Bush, the worst President in our history, is leaving behind.
Who would want this awful job? Only a patriot of the first order. Only a John McCain or a Barack Obama.
Think about it.
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