As you all probably know, the swiftboating of Obama's campaign has already begun. Republican news outlets are desparately trying to lend some creedence to demonstrably false rumours going around the internet that Obama is a Muslim American who refuses to swear in on the Bible or say the pledge of allegiance by claiming that he is not patriotic. In order to support this contention, they have dug up a photo where Obama didn't put his hand over his heart during the national anthem. They have also made a big deal about Obama not wearing a U.S. flag lapel pin. So how does Obama counter these swiftboat style tactics?
More below the fold . . .
He incorporates the Pledge of allegiance into his stump speech. Here's my lame attempt at pulling this feat off:
Now some of my political opponents have been trying to divide us as a nation by claiming that some of us are more patriotic than others because of our political beliefs. You hear some of these folks on talk radio claim that Democrats or Independents arent's as patriotic as Republicans, or that those of us who have opposed the Bush administration's debacle in Iraq don't love their country as much as those who have supported this debacle. They have attacked me for not wearing an American flag lapel pin. There have even been rumours floating around the internet that I have refused to recite the pledge of allegiance. These rumours are of course flat out lies. These are nothing more than desperate attacks being made by desperate people who are afraid of bringing change to this great nation.
Nevertheless, an important lesson can be gleaned from all of these baseless attacks. In order to move forward as a nation, we can no longer be divided by the divisive politics of the past that have been so characteristic of Washington DC. Instead we must recognize the inherent truth of the words in our Pledge of Allegiance. We are not a nation of red states and blue states. Instead we are ONE nation, under God, INDIVISIBLE, with liberty and and justice for ALL.
Of course I am certain that Obama and/or his speech writers can do a much more eloquent job of doing this than I can ever do. But recognizing the limited capacity of my ability to write speeches, what do you think of the basic idea behind this rebuttal?