Two Top Columnists Question Obama's DNA and "Full-blooded" Americanism

Liberal bloggers and commenters at The Washington Post op-ed section are rightly criticizing a column this week by syndicated scribe Kathleen Parker that questions Barack Obama's "deep-seated" Americanism. But she is only following the footsteps of Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal who raised similar issues three weeks ago -- and was praised by NBC's Brian Williams for a "Pulitzer" worthy effort.

Noonan wrote then:

Hillary Clinton is not Barack Obama's problem. America is Mr. Obama's problem...[H]as he ever gotten misty-eyed over... the Wright Brothers and what kind of country allowed them to go off on their own and change everything? How about D-Day, or George Washington, or Henry Ford, or the losers and brigands who flocked to Sutter's Mill, who pushed their way west because there was gold in them thar hills?

Henry Ford was a vicious anti-Semite, but no matter. For Noonan continued:

John McCain carries it in his bones. Mr. McCain learned it in school, in the Naval Academy, and, literally, at grandpa's knee....

Mr. Obama? What does he think about all that history? Which is another way of saying: What does he think of America? That's why people talk about the flag pin absent from the lapel. They wonder if it means something. Not that the presence of the pin proves love of country -- any cynic can wear a pin, and many cynics do. But what about Obama and America? Who would have taught him to love it, and what did he learn was lovable, and what does he think about it all?...

[N]o one is questioning his patriotism, they're questioning its content, its fullness.

No one? And surely not Peggy Noonan. And, of course, Obama has spoken about why he loves American often and at great length, if Noonan might have noticed if she was paying attention.

Now, Kathleen Parker, in contrast, used the words of another to set forth her central premise. At least this time she didn't quote someone who suggested that certain liberals be taken out and shot, as she did in a column back in 2003.

She opened this week's column (she is published in dozens of papers) by quoting 24-year-old Josh Fry of West Virginia who said he backed John McCain over Barack Obama: "His feelings aren't racist, he explained. He would just be more comfortable with 'someone who is a full-blooded American as president.'"

We don't know Mr. Fry, but polls did show that an extraordinarily high number of voters in the recent Democratic primary in West Virginia did -- privately -- admit that race had an awful lot to do with their vote.

But Parker assured us, again, that her own views had nothing to do with race:

Full-bloodedness is an old coin that's gaining currency in the new American realm. Meaning: Politics may no longer be so much about race and gender as about heritage, core values, and made-in-America. Just as we once and still have a cultural divide in this country, we now have a patriot divide.

Who 'gets' America? And who doesn't?...It's about blood equity, heritage and commitment to hard-won American values. And roots.

Some run deeper than others and therein lies the truth of Josh Fry's political sense. In a country that is rapidly changing demographically -- and where new neighbors may have arrived last year, not last century -- there is a very real sense that once-upon-a-time America is getting lost in the dash to diversity.

We love to boast that we are a nation of immigrants -- and we are. But there's a different sense of America among those who trace their bloodlines back through generations of sacrifice.

Parker, of course, ignores the fact that Obama, in fact, is half-white, is related (god help us) to Dick Cheney, and can trace his family back as far as McCain in America -- to George Washington, even. And speaking of "generations of sacrifice": Obama's grandfather fought in World War II.

Those fine small-town Americans may not know any of that -- and Parker sure doesn't remind them. "What they know," she relates, "is that their forefathers fought and died for an America that has worked pretty well for more than 200 years. What they sense is that their heritage is being swept under the carpet while multiculturalism becomes the new national narrative. And they fear what else might get lost in the remodeling of America."

Even Hillary Clinton has "figured it out," Parker writes. Her "own DNA is cobbled with many of the same values that rural and small-town Americans cling to. She understands viscerally what Obama has to study."

After noting other true American values such as easy gun ownership, Parker concludes, "Full-blooded Americans get this. Those who hope to lead the nation better get it soon." Of course, the only half-white and half-native Obama is not "full-blooded." Get it?

As for Parker's support for serve-your-country Americanism, few may remember her 2003 column that attacked Jessica Lynch, another West Virginian, and one who nearly lost her life for the U.S. in Iraq. "What the hell was Jessica Lynch doing in the U.S. Army?" Parker asked.

"Regardless of what did or didn't happen over there, Lynch's book, movie and notoriety are not wasted, but offer a cautionary tale: A 5-foot-4-inch, 100-pound woman has no place in a war zone nor, arguably, in the military.

"The feminist argument that women can do anything men can do is so absurd that it seems unworthy of debate. That some women are as able as some men in some circumstances hardly constitutes a defense for 'girling' down our military - and putting men at greater risk - so that the Jessica Lynches can become kindergarten teachers.

"Lynch is not so much 'a symbol of Bush administration propaganda,' as Frank Rich wrote in The New York Times, as she is a victim of the PC military career myth sold to young women through feminist propaganda."

Greg Mitchell's new book is So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits -- and the President -- Fails on Iraq. It has been hailed by Bill Moyers, Glenn Greenwald and others, and features a preface by Bruce Springsteen. Mitchell is editor of Editor & Publisher.

Comments

[ronmyers]

I welcome the columns of Parker and Noonan. We need the different ideas about what we think America is all about to be made public, not just argued and fought over at the neighborhood tavern. Parker and Noonan are idiots and Mitchell does a good job in pointing that out. Two of the greatest believers in the American ideals of Jefferson and Paine were Sacco and Vanzetti. I say that made them great Americans, even though not citizens. Of course, others of the Noonan/Parker persuasion fried them 81 years ago, claiming a gain for their own Americanism. Yeah, let's get this battle on..

[cl00bie]

: Parker, of course, ignores the fact that Obama, in fact, is half-white, is related (god help us) to Dick
: Cheney, and can trace his family back as far as McCain in America -- to George Washington, even.
: And speaking of "generations of sacrifice": Obama's grandfather fought in World War II.

That's probably because Obama ignores the fact that he is half white. He never mentions his white half, and is content to run as a black man. That's his prerogative. However he'll lose out on his family's white history when every month for him is "black history month".

[InDaZone]

WTF? Obama has done his best not to run as the black candidate. Do you remember when all this started... people questioning if he was black enough? I have heard him on numerous occasions mention his MOTHER, his GRANDMOTHER, and his GRANDMOTHE­R....... who are WHITE! You seem to want him to play the race card.

Have you heard any of his speeches where he's the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya... and how that could only be possible in America?

You have selective memory.

[whatsmyname]

People, in case you don't know it, the majority if NOT ALL Of the electronic media is owned and managed by Republicans. Maybe this will put things in a better light as I've heard from people that find it hard to believe that the subversive behavior, dirty tricks and meddling is so constant, but it is real. It isn't hard to connect the dots on this one. Really!

[mheister]

The whole idea of questioning patriotism is just a canard. It's no different than the flag-pin crap, or GW's recent labeling of Obama as an "appeaser". The GOP knows they can't run on the issues, so they're desperately grasping at the entirely irrelevant but hopefully emotionally resonant this or that. And shame on Brian Williams for heaping praise on that crap. It's quite clear he - along with the rest of the mainstream media - is looking for the next non-issue to spill barrels of ink and weeks of airtime on, so they can appease their corporate masters by not focusing on the real issues.

[edzeppelin]

I would like to know the ancestry of Noonan and Parker! Truth is "most" white Americans cannot follow a bloodline to the Revolution in America. Most "white" Americans are Europeans who came here starting in the mid 1800s through the early 1900s. Most African-Americans have blood-lines dating to ancestors who walked this continent, free and slave, well before most white Americans' ancestors arrived here. Noonan and Parker are full of shit.

Barack should; however, tout his "American" DNA more. Everyone needs to know his "American" ancestry better. I read that he did have a bloodline to the Revolution and was even offered to join the Sons of the American Revolution. He should accept it and hold a big press conference with the group to shove it up the collective asses of these bigots!

[DennyCrane]

People like Peggy Noonan are America's problem. You shouldn't have to prove how much you love America. Is there a test? Questions like these only get raised cause Obama's black. There's this assumption out there that white people love America but minorities don't and have to prove that they do.

[onenation]

To quote a noted senator, Bull S$#@^t.
What a crock of platitudes out of Noonan, HRC etc. Full Blooded, Hard Working (WHITE) Americans, and other code words. To genteel to use the N word and thinks the connection isn't be made to the attitude.
The WW1 and WW2 blacks that were kept in menial tasks and grave yard tasks duties didn't "really fight" so they don't deserve respect. And they can't tell their children grand tails of war action. So they can never become "full blooded" Americans and their children never are allowed to become Full Blooded and Hard Working. Anyone know whio the Red Tail fighter pilots are???
Well Mike the Huckster gave a weak excuse on Meet The Press when asked about his NRA speech aside about a gun aimed at Obama. I guess when the pastor became a politician he became the money changer and scribe. (or did he really have to change) Well I never said . . . whatever. I just "~misspoke~". Said with Bush as the subject and you get a serious visit from the Secret Service and mostly get arrested. Say that with McCain as the subject and you would be a radical left wing nut. But the Huckster (and the listening target audance) gets by with a "Well I didn't etc etc."
Noonan and the Huckster and others should pay some serious thumping. OR I guess the MSM and FOX think that race baiting is OK.

[whatsmyname]

They are only top columnists to the elite, not to the ancestors of red-blooded black and white, brown and yellow americans, who built this country to fighting a stupid civil war, digging in the gold hills in California, Alaska and Idaho to make it better for their families or to building the railroads across the badlands and later slaving in the bowels of the ore and coal mines scattered all over this country. No, the truth is the R's today were called the Wigs, back in the day and the term liberal and conservative was a total creation of the electronic media not that many decades ago.. Truth is, people in this country are NOT as petty as the media makes them out to be and don't like labels, period. Oh, my sources are from lots of real, live folks and generations of relatives that shared their true stories, not some scams thought up by the board (or a fake polling company) of some corporate media, wsj or other rag. Thanks G Mitchell, for a good article.

[proudloudlib]

Oh, No! Where do I even start?? How about :

"After noting other true American values such as easy gun ownership, Parker concludes, "Full-blooded Americans get this."

I will match my "full-blooded American" credentials against Parker's any time, any day, and she will lose. (My paternal grandfather's tree includes the Camp brothers that came over from England in the 1500's, with a mention of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall. My maternal grandmother's tree includes the likes of Henry Lee and Robert E. Lee.) But I do not now, never have, and never will understand this country's aversion to reasonable gun control laws. Every study I have ever seen shows that the mere ownership of a gun increases your likelihood of dying from gun violence exponentially. Plus, I have never, ever, ever heard of a drive-by knifing. If it is even a little bit true that "guns don't kill people, people kill people" ( a premise I don't buy), guns certainly simplify the process. Neocons, please don't come shoot me for posting this.

[SlithyTove]

And how would the argument these two micks are making play out if a full-blooded Cherokee were running?

[mivogo]

Despite their smug assertions, Obama is the true essence of the American Dream__a half-black, half-white man who got a chance to become President of the United States not because he was a fool born of aristocratic parents (see W), but because of his superior intellect. He wasn't "born on 3rd base and thinks he hit a triple", as was said by Ann Richardson of Bush senior, but a gifted man who is a living example of the hope and promise of this great nation. Noonan, who used to be a decent writer, thinks any bigot who doesn't hate her (Henry Ford, etc) is just peachy keen. That's not only snide, Peggy--it's unAmerican.

[theDrip]

Who runs these newspapers to allow such blatantly racist and offensive editorials? I have terminated all subscriptions to these and other MSM outlets.

[ndnndpendent]

Native Americans are the first Americans and the true patriots, they were there when Philadelphia was the nation's capitol and signed the first treaties before the Constitution was ratified, before there was a United States of America---the colonies existed as confederated states. Some tribes, like my own, accepted presidential peace flags in a spirit of peace with this fledgling democracy.

It is now popular among liberal Democratic politicians to disown the American flag. Some even refuse to take pictures with old glory (Sen. Max Baucus, MT). They mock the American flag and this is the symbol of this nation. It is a losing proposition for a Presidential candidate to refuse to wear a flag lapel pin and to justify his refusal by saying its "false patriotism­." He has disdain for the flag of the country he wants to be President. My advice to Obama is love the American flag, this symbol belongs to all of us and it respresents all of us.

[Jason357]

We would all be better off with fewer worshipers of the US flag, and more who get and support what the flag supposedly stands for. Bush and his goons wear flag pins. They are patriots? That's an hysterical suggestion.

Obama deserves a chance because the white guys have had their turn. Each time we gave them a fresh start, they spit in our faces and hand over our freedoms to some corporation. Bush was the last straw with me. The folks can take that "folks like us" argument and shove it.

[Grit]

Wonder if you can find a flag pin or even an American flag not made in china.

[omaro]

Here's a giggle I read somewhere recently: The only American company left that makes lapel pins is in Pennsylvania. And guess who works there?! Yes, the woman who was filmed asking the question for the awful TV "debate" with Stephanopoulos and Charlie what-his-name. Too funny!

[distant mirror]

Hey Peggy Noonan. Do you think George Washington and Henry Ford are more American than Frederick Douglass, Scott Joplin, Louis Armstrong, Martin Luther King or Willie Mays? Have any of these Americans ever got you choked up? Or what about Rosa Parks who was brave enough to sit at the front of the bus. The fact that our country was the first to confront and deal with Civil Rights....­..doesn't that make you proud to be a American? What about The Blues? Or Gospel Music?

I think both of these ladies have to really think about what they have written. Barack Obama's probelm isn't America as much as narrow minded people in America thinking that George Washington and D-Day are what make people American. Perhaps Obama does need to connect with those voters more, but it would be nice if just once writers such as Peggy Noonan would say " African Americans have been a huge part of American history and culture. It has given us great music, writing, dance and ground breaking leaders that have helped define this country as the powerful leader that it was in the 20th Century. The beauty of the Obama candidacy is that people in these small towns in rural white America as does the REST OF THE COUNTRY have a great opportunity to wake up to the fact that African American culture is and has been a huge component in our national fabric. It is a relization that is long over due.

[heavencent]

ROSA PARKS SAT IN THE BACK OF THE BUS ,JUST AS SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO; HOWEVER,WHEN THE BUS FILLED UP, AND THERE WERE NO MORE SEATS IN THE WHITE SECTION,SHE WAS ASKED TO GIVE UP HER SEAT FOR A WHITE MAN. SHE REFUSED,AND WAS ARRESTED.P­LEASE GET IT RIGHT WHEN YOU ARE SIGHTING HISTORY.

[unitron]

sighting=seeing with your eyes, from the word "sight"

siting=placing in a particular location, from the word "site"

citing=making reference to, or quoting from, from the word "cite" or "citation"

[unitron]

"PLEASE GET IT RIGHT WHEN YOU ARE SIGHTING HISTORY."

sighting=seeing with your eyes, from the word "sight"

siting=placing in a particular location, from the word "site"

citing=making reference to, or quoting from, from the word "cite" or "citation"

[allonfla]

SNL should have a skit where Obama comes out with a giant flag pin on his lapel. or a suit blazer covered entirely in flag pins.

[JustMyWords]

Or nothing but a flag pin.

[DiogenesII]

PART 1
The last line of Part 2 says it all. It was written, adopted and ratified by the founders. Political machination and accommodation, solely for those God fearing, "full blooded", SOULESS, Christian Americans, whose desire was simply to abuse those, which was created in God's Image, and assert the flawed notion of their self-image and superiority. This notion remains "widely held", in all parts of the country, but we are fully aware that there are "Insular Incubators of Ignorance"; West Virginia, with few exceptions, being a full blooded member of this "Axis of Ignorance". Now, who is it that MUST learn the TRUTH Ms. Noonan and Parker?

I suppose the answer to your insidiously inane question is Obama's Patriotism should be discounted by 40%: The remaining 60% is being more, than sufficient and far more superior to 100% of the MEDIOCRACY, we now have passing as leadership.