Our old traditional media does such a splendid job. Okay, not really.
For those of you who are wondering what the title of this is all about, Barack Obama spoke on patriotism in Independence, Missouri yesterday.
A portion of the prepared text of Barack Obama’s speech as released by his campaign:
…So let me say at this at outset of my remarks. I will never question the patriotism of others in this campaign. And I will not stand idly by when I hear others question mine.
My concerns here aren’t simply personal, however. After all, throughout our history, men and women of far greater stature and significance than me have had their patriotism questioned in the midst of momentous debates. Thomas Jefferson was accused by the Federalists of selling out to the French. The anti-Federalists were just as convinced that John Adams was in cahoots with the British and intent on restoring monarchal rule. Likewise, even our wisest Presidents have sought to justify questionable policies on the basis of patriotism. Adams’ Alien and Sedition Act, Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus, Roosevelt’s internment of Japanese Americans – all were defended as expressions of patriotism, and those who disagreed with their policies were sometimes labeled as unpatriotic.
In other words, the use of patriotism as a political sword or a political shield is as old as the Republic…
[emphasis added]
Here’s what the traditional media said what Obama said:
…Mon, Jun. 30, 2008 10:15 PM
Obama stresses patriotism on visit to Independence
By STEVE KRASKE
The Kansas City Star…Obama’s defense of his own patriotism included a series of historical footnotes in which he noted that Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt all heard their patriotism questioned during their administrations…
I read that in this morning’s dead trees edition of the paper (the story was on the front page) and thought to myself, “Wait a minute, I was there, I don’t remember it quite that way.” Lucky for me I had my handy dandy digital audio recorder (standard new media operating equipment) with me. And this time I remembered to switch on the microphone.
This is what I recorded:
…After all, throughout our history, men and women of far greater significance and stature than me have had their patriotism questioned in the midst of momentous debates. Thomas Jefferson was accused by the Federalists of selling out to the French. The anti-Federalists were just as convinced that John Adams was in cahoots with the British and intent on restoring monarchal rule. Likewise, even our wisest Presidents have sought sometimes to justify questionable policies on the basis of patriotism. Adams’ Alien and Sedition Act, Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus, Roosevelt’s internment of Japanese Americans during World War II – all were defended at the time as expressions of patriotism, and those who disagreed with their policies were sometimes labeled as unpatriotic.
In other words, the use of patriotism as a political sword or a political shield is as old as the Republic…
[emphasis added]
Uh, there are two separate thoughts going on here, let’s not try to conflate them. Patriotism is sometimes used as “a sword” and sometimes it’s used as “a shield”. So, FDR’s internment of Japanese Americans is one of those sword thingies. His patriotism wasn’t attacked (well, at least in the context of Obama’s speech). Roosevelt was justifying a questionable policy – he was an actor, not the recipient. You wouldn’t know that was what was said from reading the account in the Star.
Yeah, it’s a fine point. But shouldn’t we expect more than soundbite depth in the coverage of our political discourse?
Okay, was our stenographer paying attention, or was he just hanging around the local public radio station banner hoping to get his picture taken by a blogger with an attitude?
It looks like I’m going to have to transcribe the entire speech. Sigh.