I am going to fisk Obama today – he has had it coming for a long time. I am going to challenge the empty suit’s soaring and vacuous rhetoric on “Patriotism” to demonstrate why fancy words woven together in a nice cadence are meaningless without purpose and value against our challenges. Obama’s speeches have sunken to nothing more than rambling damage control, ways to pump his damaged image instead of actually taking on the challenges we face. So let’s begin:

On a spring morning in April of 1775, a simple band of colonists – farmers and merchants, blacksmiths and printers, men and boys – left their homes and families in Lexington and Concord to take up arms against the tyranny of an Empire. The odds against them were long and the risks enormous – for even if they survived the battle, any ultimate failure would bring charges of treason, and death by hanging.

And yet they took that chance. They did so not on behalf of a particular tribe or lineage, but on behalf of a larger idea. The idea of liberty. The idea of God-given, inalienable rights. And with the first shot of that fateful day – a shot heard round the world – the American Revolution, and America’s experiment with democracy, began.

Senator Obama, if you want to see the modern version of this get your butt to Iraq. For the last year Iraqi, US and Coalition forces have been battling the tyranny of Islamo Fascism. The Muslim Iraqis, once in league with the butchers of al-Qaeda, decided to take a chance and risk horrible retribution. And they too did not do this on behalf of a tribe or lineage, but on the larger idea that a democratic Iraq would be a better, less violent, less oppressive future than one run by Bin Laden’s thugs. And Iraqis paid for that choice by the thousands, at the hands of those same al-Qaeda thugs.

Today in Iraq you see, Senator, the continued echo of that shot heard around the world. And yet you have called for years now to snuff out that echo. You have demanded we abandon those freedom fighters in Iraq, even after we promised to stand by them. You Senator, have voted to stop funding the march of democracy you so hypocritically try to wrap around yourself now.

Those men of Lexington and Concord were among our first patriots. And at the beginning of a week when we celebrate the birth of our nation, I think it is fitting to pause for a moment and reflect on the meaning of patriotism – theirs, and ours.

Does the Junior (not even one term) Senator from Illinois not realize the current patriots for this nation fought and died and were injured in Iraq, fighting for our nation as well (as ordered by our President, as authorized by Congress, as continuously authorized each year by Congress, and as of now operating under UN mandate)? Why are you talking about Patriots in Lexington when we have Patriots in Baghdad, Fallujah, Mosul and Basra?

We do so in part because we are in the midst of war – more than one and a half million of our finest young men and women have now fought in Iraq and Afghanistan; over 60,000 have been wounded, and over 4,600 have been laid to rest. The costs of war have been great, and the debate surrounding our mission in Iraq has been fierce. It is natural, in light of such sacrifice by so many, to think more deeply about the commitments that bind us to our nation, and to each other.

What commitment have you shown, Senator Obama, to their cause? What commitment have you shown to make sure their sacrifices were not in vain? What effort have you laid out for them! All we hear from you is about how you will use the war to get elected. All we see around you are people who think and chant “God Damn America!” All we see around you Senator are people who bombed America, who were the same as the early al-Qaeda of the 1990’s, but doing it back in the 60’s and 70’s. What ‘patriotism’ are you demonstrating by allying with those who wanted (and probably still ‘want’) to destroy what these brave young men and women died for? You have not found the time in over two and half years to even go visit them!

Not only is it a debate about big issues – health care, jobs, energy, education, and retirement security – but it is also a debate about values. How do we keep ourselves safe and secure while preserving our liberties? How do we restore trust in a government that seems increasingly removed from its people and dominated by special interests? How do we ensure that in an increasingly global economy, the winners maintain allegiance to the less fortunate? And how do we resolve our differences at a time of increasing diversity?

Where did the Iraq war go Senator? You are not 20 seconds into your speech and now you equate sacrificing for your country with health care, jobs, energy, education, retirement. What do these things have to do with patriotism? Are you claiming the battle of Lexington was to secure requirement security? Where did you come up with that lame connection? Or is it your speech writers have gotten lazy and don’t even try anymore to connect your policy BS with the context of your overall theme. And what in the world are you babbling about when you say “the winners maintain allegiance to the less fortunate”? This is the epitome of vacuous speaking. The less fortunate where? How less fortunate? What new government program are you pondering now?

Finally, it is worth considering the meaning of patriotism because the question of who is – or is not – a patriot all too often poisons our political debates, in ways that divide us rather than bringing us together. I have come to know this from my own experience on the campaign trail. Throughout my life, I have always taken my deep and abiding love for this country as a given. It was how I was raised; it is what propelled me into public service; it is why I am running for President. And yet, at certain times over the last sixteen months, I have found, for the first time, my patriotism challenged – at times as a result of my own carelessness, more often as a result of the desire by some to score political points and raise fears about who I am and what I stand for.

Why is Patriotism all about Barack’s screw ups and image building? You know what the problem is with the debate today? You disagree with someone on policy, note how those policies could increase the danger to America, and they go off whining about you questioning their patriotism! Where is your answer to Senator Dick Durbin’s (Democrat) comparison of our troops to the Nazis Senator? Why are we talking about your image when the debate is about the comments YOUR PARTY have made about the men and women fighting on the front lines? Are you going to publicly apologize to General “Betray US” for the insult MoveOn.org levied against the man who turned Iraq from failure to success in one short year?

This is the problem with Obama. His smooth talking can’t cover up the lack of content, the self absorption, the skidding away from the tough issues. If the guy comes out one more time talking about him and his feelings I think I am going to throw up.

Click the image below (from Getty Images) to see whose feelings and sacrifices are paramount to this debate:

Here’s the bottom line Senator Empty Suite: what in the world do you plan to do in Iraq?! That’s all we need to understand, what is your commitment, what is your ‘read my lips’ pledge? What are you promising you will work night and day to do in Iraq sir? What is it you will sacrifice all to accomplish? Will you risk all to win now that it is within our easy grasp?

Or will you dodge and hem and haw? Obama – enough of the fancy speeches and exploring your inner whatever – what are you going to do if elected?

Tags: 2008 Election, Iraq, Obama