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

[REZBOO]

The sad and silly people on Rupert Murdoch's payroll--desperate and funny.

George Bush is a "true American" whose Grandpa Prescott didn't endorse Hitler but supported his cause financially. George W. has run the country into the sewer and it is HE who seems like a deeply covert operative sent to destroy the land, not Obama.

If the new metric is this crap God help us, this is just pathetic.

[Bulbul]

Columnists always gives their opinion , they are not any kind of analysts. Even the so called analysts can not refrain themselves from giving their two cents...
And why does it matter who is related to whom, who has more black or white is in their genetic makeup ?

The most important factor is, who is a better candidate...

Hillary it is...

[normathumb]

It was the "full blooded" Americans who scrubbed our genocide out of our history books. It was the "full blooded" Americans who scrubbed the de facto slavery, enforced through lynchings and ethnic cleansing, that persisted from the end of Reconstruction til the modern civil rights era. It was the "full blooded" Americans who enacted, enforced and now deny the American aparthied that was legally enforced until only recently.
Let us be very specific who she is speaking of when Kathleen Parker refers to "full blooded" Americans.

[Bulbul]

The full blooded American are the Natives are they not ? What is their say and positions in this election..

[k6007]

I have no idea, and, obviously, the msm doesn't give a damn. They might express their REAL feelings about this whole illegal immigration fallacy.

[normathumb]

My comment was directed at those Ms Parker considers "full blooded", which are clearly not the peoples indigenous to the continent beyond the last 516 years. The backdrop for her comments are the violently quaint notions of manifest destiny, (translation: we are the chosen people.), racial superiority, and cultural hegemony. She suggests minorities don't "get" the Morals and ideals of America's legacy. Maybe they are a little fuzzy on the self delusions of a violently racist culture because they were on the recieving end of the reality of that culture. It is unfortunately so hard to recognize the nobility of your enslavers and oppressors. Obama and Clinton see the promise and potential of the words. They seek to live out those ideals. That they do so is in spite of the short comings of the "full blooded" Americans who didn't consider their "property" fully human or women worthy of the vote.

[Bobrobert]

Racists.

A dying breed in America.

Thank goodness.

Pity me me me is not only old fashion but self defeating.

People who wish to ignore the facts are simply out of touch and will never be happy in America.

Pray for them, if anyone needs prayer it is them.

As for wanna be folks that wish to misrepresent the facts like Noonan and Parker let us feel pity for them.

Noonan and Parker both show their denial of self worth by trying to demean others.

At any rate be sure to vote and take care all.

[StephenJK]

you along with the millions of Obama supporters seem to be fixated on race. Are you as fixated on gender related injustice here and around the world? Are you as incensed that to this day women are stoned to death for petty crime? They're beaten senseless because they glanced at the wrong person? Have you, Bob, ever been belittled or objectified because of your gender? No? Well, then I don't think you'd know very much about what it's like to be a woman in today's world.

It's really funny how everyone glosses over or doesn't even recognize the gross misogyny this country accepts. Even Obama plays the condescending patriarch games which are OK by American standards.

All I hear about is racialist ideas about half of the democratic electorate. It was all created by one black congressman because Bill Clinton's words were twisted up and presented as racialist to the concerned public.

You have the audacity to throw the word racist around like "asshole". I don't know where you come from or what era you've lived in but, where I come from racist, racism, racial and racialist actually mean something and when applying it to a person you better be damn sure about it.

[LABC]

whaaaaaaaaaaa... be sure to show us the historical pictures of women being lynched for having the nerve to breathe air in THIS country.

Seriously, singing my blues ain't your blues doesn't help things and it would be a big step for you to open your eyes to gender AND racial discrimination and put them on equal footing. I don't have the luxury of picking just one, and the "feminist" self absorbtion and phony indignation over Clinton's failed candidacy is completely off-putting. You gloss over her missteps and failings in a way that you would never if she was a man.

For once, I would like to see some actual EVIDENCE to support this contentiion that his campaign systematically committed sexism against Clinton.

Your post is an insult to men and women who have fought injustices for ALL people. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

[jayburd]

Take a look at both articles. Really read them. Then come back and tell us that you're not "damn sure" that they were written by racists or bigots or xenophobes and that those words, when applied, don't "actually mean something." And then tell us why...

[hrayovac]

I may not be the first to say it, but let it not go unsaid here that John McCain is in fact at least half Panamanian, his birthplace. If that matters.

[TheQuis]

Timothy McVeigh has real american DNA, Maybe he should run for president.

[shengirl]

except he's dead, isn't he?

[ResidentChimp]

Obama learned his American History with most the other liberal elitists at the knee of Howard Zinn an anti-American marxist. You may remember he is half white, but he join the Afro-Centric church of Wright to be accepted as a black and labelled his ailing grandmother, who help raise him and secured his elitist upbringing, a typical "white person". Obama's friends define him and he is an appeasser. He learned early to manipulate elitists whites by absolving them of their race guilt. And that is his real problem. Most white middle class Americans don't have any race guilt. they fully understand that America has treated African Afmericans better than any other country in the world. They also know that they had no part in slavery, or discrimination. That all happened decades ago. If fact most middle Americans recognize how easy African Americans have it today with Affirmitive action. Why should we elect a President not based on merit but skin color?

[AuntSam]

Please, give facts to support your statements and specifics on how you became so knowledgeable about how 'he learned early to manipulate......' and 'how most middle (what, white or ?) fully understand that America has treated AA's better than....'.
I'm middle class, white and that isn't something I have experienced. I do agree we should not elect a President based on skin color but on merit - that is why I am voting for Obama.
I've spent hours researching all the candidates policies, professional and personal histories and do not depend on media or non-documented factual data to base my opinion on....
Look forward to your 'documented facts' on which you base your remarks.
God Bless.

[ResidentChimp]

Why don't you try reading his books. Maybe you could learn something. Please give me an example where you acted like a racist or treated an African American unfairly. Do you feel guilty about slavery or discrimination that took place decades ago? If so, please explain why that is. I really don't know any middle Americans that feel guilty about slavery. In fact I would say that many religious people might say that it was a blessing.

[AnotherunhappyDemocrat]

"America has treated African Afmericans better than any other country in the world." I have no idea what this means, but it must have something to do with tourism. Please clarify.

[Teritt]

Typical white person here - no one is asking anyone to base their vote on skin color or gender. We elect someone based on their intelligence, values and message. A President should be a leader - and I want one that will lead us out of the mess George the Chimp led us in. I don't 'suffer' from 'race guilt' and I don't think Obama is an elitist when you compare his upbringing­/backgroun­d to Bush, McCain or Hillary Clinton. Go back to your Republican hate-filled blogs, or call up Kevin James on his radio show - maybe you two can discuss 'appease'.
Obama '08

[nellie]

You seem to be carrying a load of white guilt on your shoulders.

[AuntSam]

To quote Senator Clinton: "Shame on You!" Ms. Parker!
To quote Senator Obama: "One America, not white, black, red, yellow or christian, muslim, jewish or rich, poor or male, female - but united Americans under one flag, living in one country where all are equal and care about each other."
To quote Senator McCain - "I proudly served my country for all Americans."
There are always those who insist on tearing us apart, intent on the differences in gender, skin color, ethnicity, religion, social class, political party and the list goes on ad nauseum rather than character or the really important traits that are not inherited but rather practiced as individuals. All this form of bigotry does is ensure obstacles to unity and success. Should I think less of you or more of myself based on any of this criteria?
I won't judge you to be less of an American or hate you or demean you because of our differences in the list noted. I hope and pray that you respect and care about my welfare as I do yours. I want you to be happy, healthy and wise.
However, if you want to let Ms. Parker and those of her ignorant, judgmental and negative ilk know that you as a proud American who cares about all the citizens of this land equally believe more harm than good is done by this type of article - I'll sign my name too.

[sco8d]

Remeber when, a few years back before he turned his back on the neo-cons Arnold was the toast of the Republican party and was mentioned as a future president? A guy who was born and raised in Austria is more American to Republicans that a guy born and raised here?

[midknightryder13]

I was scratching my head over that one. In order for Arnold to run for President, the Constitution would have to be changed. If memory serves, being President is the ONE office in the land where one of the requirements was the candidate be a 'native-born citizen'. In other words, a NATURALIZED citizen can never run for the highest office in the land.

Now, while I think that, at some point, we probably should change that, I CAN see why it's in there. And, if we ever did amend the requirement, I think it would need to say something like, "No dual citizenship and the candidate must have been a citizen for X number of years." (20+ I would think.)

One other thing, I find the clain that somehow being born here make you 'better versed' in America's heritage specious, at best. It is a documented fact that the VAST majority of native-born Americans COULD NOT PASS the citizenship test that all candidates who wish to become naturalized citizens must take and pass.

[DietrichMoody]

Peggy Noonan says, "H]as he ever gotten misty-eyed over... " She's not indicting Obama. She doesn't say "He Has" but "Has he" One is a statement the other a question.


Its stupid to question Obama's patriotism,and one could argue that Obama is more WASPish in his cultaral behavior and ways of thinking about himself or not thinking about himself, per se, than either Bill Clinton or John McCain. Could it be because Clinton is from Arkansas and grew up supposedly black and McCain is from , i don't know - Panama? and grew up Mad!! I digress, Anyway, Obama is from the true Mid Center, Anglo hub -Kansas. Want to argue his patriotism and Americanism. Don't go there.


I think Peggys question has A LOT to do with AGE. Speaking for those war veterans, lodge members and their wives, who see this new man, whose lived around the world as possibley anti-establishment. Those veterans once saw the Clintons as hippies, in their day, and now see them as the old, very old establishment candidates. It takes communication.


Obama needs to introduce himself to the non-Kansans but the older ethnic whites. Obama needs to tell them that he's closer to the American values, that their immigrant ancestors came to his country believing in, those being: justice,democracy, and truth, The Constitution. Obama, might have the best of both worlds to make a strong case for American values, than any candidate in recent memory.

[nellie]

These "full blooded" comments are so ridiculous, they would be funny if they weren't so frightening. As a Native American, I have to cringe at these protestations of purity in American bloodline. Can any of these so-called pure-blooded "Americans" trace their heritage back 17 thousand years on this soil? No, I can, but they would no doubt deny my claim to have America in my blood.

America is not about bloodline. It's about ideals, values, love of freedom, love of fairness, love of justice. Trying to tie these features of heart and mind to cells and corpuscles is silliness. Unfortunately, it is silliness that has cost many lives in the past.

The bloodline rhetoric is so similar to Nazi credo, it astounds me that commentators are bold enough to use it. The Nazi theme certainly is out in force recently, what with Bush's comments to the Knesset and this drivel. The conservative movement seems to believe its only chance against Obama is go full out fascist. They are showing their true nature. And there is nothing American about it.

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

nellie, Thanks for your excellent post.

[kfblanko]

I was also going to flag the echo of Nazi racialist and nationhood theories in the WSJ op-eds. Glad you picked that up. This is nothing short of insidious, and the only thing that I can hope for is that Obama's winning the presidency puts paid to this kind of drivel for good.

[SonofLiberty1]

Obama's problem is very simple:
He can't say the right thing at the right time. Or to put it more bluntly, he has foot-in-mouth disease.
Look, everyone makes silly mistakes, but not everyone runs for president either
Besides which, actions speak louder than words and Obama hasn't given himself half a chance to build a real movement, apart from running for president, a movement because of what he has done not going to do.

I greatly fear what will happen....

Another male president who has too much of a certain hormone without enough discernment or
an Older male president who wants to keep us in war and start another one?

It will take a miracle to save us...and unfortunately that miracle is Hillary and democrats want to throw her under the bus!

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

In myth studies, there is an archetype known as the "Devouring Mother." she has way too much of a certain hormone. She is a goddess gone into hyper-drive. She is a Medusa and to look at her is turn into rock.

[Osprey3]

Why don't you move into the reality zone. If HRC were to run the Nation anything like she's managed her own campaign, God help us all!

[Angelaaaa]

Which hormone? Are we talking testosterone here? Because if we are, Hill must be on steroids - she's the one gonna nuke Iran. We are THAT close to her hawking, spitting and adjusting her crotch in public.

[SHERHAY21]

what a joke to question this wonderful young man of not being an american .These old women are trying to sell. this is all about him beating hillary and mccain doesn't have a chance. they have try every thing said and wrote all kinds things he keeps beating them at the games that worked 5or 10 years ago no more .the america people want sen obama for president of the united states of america. please get on board and stop the madness life is too short.

[JJK]

I find the statement "old women" offensive. Noonan and Parker are way out of line, but lets stick to the facts and not let our age bias show.

I understand that Obama staffers read this board and I encourage them to discourage this kind of language. You need our "old" votes too.

Signed,

(Obama Primary voter)

[sytgrl]

These articles read like tracts from Nazi Germany. And who are these people that are allowing these idiots to publish this crap?

P.S. Brian Williams, you are a tool.

[Herrington]

I'm a quarter Choctaw. Maybe I should run for President if we are going match how long our DNA has been on the continent.

Just plain old fashioned racism dressed ever so unconvincingly in a flag. MIlton Berle in drag.