Obama's Patriotism

On Monday, June 30th, Barrack Obama gave a speech in Independence, Missouri. In this speech Obama said, "I will never question the patriotism of others in this campaign, and I will not stand idly by when I hear others question mine." This line has gotten a lot of media coverage. However there are other statments by Obama in this speech which should have gotten more coverage.

There is this,

"I remember, when living for four years in Indonesia as a child, I listened to my mother reading me the first lines of the Declaration of Independence, 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they're endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.' "

What Obama had quoted is actually the first few lines of paragraph two of the Declaration of Independence. The first few lines of the Declaration begins, "When in the course of human events it become necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another,..."

Again, from Obama's speech,

"As we begin our fourth century as a nation, it is easy to take the extraordinary nature of America for granted."

Excuse me! Our forth century as a nation? The Constitution of the United States was ratified in 1789, which means that we have barely begun our third century, not our forth. Add this to the fact that Mr. Obama believes that we have 57 states in our union by virtue of the fact that he has visited them all, and one wonders how well he might do on the popular game show, "Are you smarter than a 5th grader".

These gaffs do not add up to a question of his patriotism as much as his ignorance. Patriotism is a difficult concept to define comprehensively. Many people define it very differently. The best definition which I have heard comes from Samuel Clemens, "Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." I believe this definition is one to which our nations founders whould have subscribed.Mr. Obama's political history as a socialist leads me to believe that his administration would be one which I could not support. It is on this basis that I question Mr. Obama's patriotism.