Obama defends his patriotism, lauds McCain's, too

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer
7 minutes ago

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - Flanked by American flags, Barack Obama forcefully defended his patriotism Monday against anyone who would challenge it, declaring he wouldn't stand for persistent rumors questioning his loyalty and aimed at sinking his presidential campaign.

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However, he was forced to interrupt the launch of a week of Fourth of July-related events — in Harry Truman's old hometown — to respond to Republican rival John McCain's complaint that it was actually Obama and his campaign who were wrongly questioning the importance of McCain's military service.

McCain said that "that kind of thing is unnecessary," and the Obama camp agreed.

Obama praised McCain's service, and the Democratic candidate's spokesman rejected Sunday's remarks from a prominent supporter, retired Gen. Wesley Clark, who said McCain's years as a Vietnam War fighter pilot and prisoner of war did not necessarily qualify him to be commander in chief.

As for his own patriotism, Obama said he chose Monday's topic in part because of questions raised during the presidential race so far, even though he had always considered his love of country a given, in fact his inspiration for running for office.

Obama acknowledged occasional "carelessness" on the topic. But he said that most criticism has been the result "of the desire by some to score political points and raise fears about who I am and what I stand for."

"I will never question the patriotism of others in this campaign, and I will not stand idly by when I hear others question mine," he pledged to cheers from a crowd of a few hundred people at the Truman Memorial Building.

Obama plans to spend all week in the run-up to Friday's July Fourth holiday focusing on American values — choosing a different theme each day and traveling to a mix of battleground states, including Missouri, Ohio and Colorado, and traditional Republican strongholds such as North Dakota and Montana. On Friday — also the 10th birthday of his oldest daughter, Malia — his wife and two children are to campaign at his side.

He is also beginning his second television advertising campaign of the general election season — all part of an attempt to define the first-term Illinois senator before Republicans do it for him.

The issue of patriotism has been turned on presidential candidates before to devastating effect.

In 1988, Republican candidate George H.W. Bush criticized rival Michael Dukakis for vetoing a bill, as Massachusetts governor, that would have required teachers to lead public school students in the recitation of the pledge of allegiance. Dukakis, who lost to Bush, argued that he supported the pledge but vetoed the bill because a state Supreme Court advisory opinion said it was unconstitutional.

Obama, the son of a white mother and black father, now seeking to become the nation's first black president, has been the subject of several smear campaigns.

Some involve an allegation that he doesn't put his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance and the fact that — until recently — he has refused to wear an American flag lapel pin. His wife, Michelle, drew conservatives' ire as well for saying during the Democratic primaries that she was really proud of her country for the first time in her adult life.

Earlier in the campaign, when critics questioned why he didn't wear the pin — as many male politicians do — he said he had stopped after the 2001 terrorist attacks because he felt it had replaced "true patriotism" for some public officials. Later, the pin on his lapel started showing up again. It was there Monday.

His campaign has answered the Pledge allegation by linking his Web site to a C-SPAN video of him leading the recitation with his hand over his heart as he presides over the Senate.

As for the latest controversy involving McCain, Obama didn't explicitly mention Clark's weekend remarks, but he attempted to distance himself from them.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the candidate "rejects yesterday's statement." Shortly after, Obama repudiated them himself.

Patriotism "must, if it is to mean anything, involve the willingness to sacrifice," he said. "For those like John McCain who have endured physical torment in service to our country — no further proof of such sacrifice is necessary."

"Let me also add that no one should ever devalue that service, especially for the sake of a political campaign, and that goes for supporters on both sides," he said to loud applause.

McCain aides portrayed the comment as emblematic of what they say is an Obama campaign that talks about a new kind of politics while using the old kind.

"I think that that kind of thing is unnecessary," McCain said at a news conference in Harrisburg, Pa. "It doesn't reduce the price of gas by one penny. It doesn't achieve our energy independence or make it come any closer. Doesn't make any American stay in their home who's at risk of losing it today. And it certainly doesn't do anything to address the challenges Americans have in keeping their jobs, homes and supporting their families."

With his speech, Obama was attempting to accomplish several things: close the book on the debate about his patriotism, paint a vivid picture of a modest, all-American upbringing, and pre-empt Republican attempts to create an image of him as an elitist Harvard-educated senator.

He described scenes from his childhood to argue his born-in-USA bona fides: watching astronauts come to shore in Hawaii from his grandfather's shoulders, hearing his grandmother's stories from her work on a World War II-era bomber assembly line, handling his grandfather's Army dog tags and listening to his mother explain that the promises of the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution apply to every American of any color.

He summed up his view of patriotism as "the liberty of each of us to pursue our own dreams." But he also quoted a favorite native son of Missouri — Mark Twain — to argue on behalf of speaking out when necessary, and drew a standing ovation.

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it," he said, repeating Twain.

He added: "We should never forget that, especially when we disagree with them, especially when they make us uncomfortable with their words."

He told reporters afterward, as he strolled down some of Independence's sidewalks and up to the front doors of bungalows, that the setting of Truman's hometown seemed fitting for his message.

"He was a man of little pretense," Obama said after a private tour of the Victorian-style house that Truman called home as an adult and which he used as the "Summer White House" during his presidency. "He was somebody who came into the job with enormous humility, didn't have all the answers all of the time, made mistakes but constantly stayed focused on how could we make the country safe and make it better for ordinary people