February 27^th

Cal Thomas has a column this morning headed “Who loves America?” No, he is not clear about an answer. To his credit and to my considerable surprise, his view of the jingoistic supporters of the Viet Nam war and their slogan “America, love it or leave it” is not complimentary. When Decatur defeated the Barbary Pirates and said,  “My country right or wrong”  Cal claims the response smacks of idolatry.

But wait, he finally regresses to the Cal we all know and abhor! He writes:

“But in saying so (talking about criticism of country) the admission and motivation must be for the purpose of improving and strengthening the country not belittling it or saying that we as a nation have failed to ‘live up to our values,’ which President Obama has said.”

No, that’s not what he said. Cal has omitted the word “sometimes” which preceded “failed to live up to our values” in the President’s speech. Is it possible that Cal Thomas believes the tortures in Abu Ghrab or the murder of twenty some unarmed civilian old men women and children by four enraged Marines at Haditha was not a “failure to live up to our ideals.” Tell us, Cal, which of our ideals or values are exemplified by these horrors? There are certainly other examples of this failure. There is no need to present incident after nauseating incident. Cal Thomas would not be convinced nor would his readers.

So when Obama says that sometimes we fail to live up to our values, how was Cal Thomas to know whether the President was belittling the country or trying to improve and strengthen it? Maybe Cal has the same wizard’s hat possessed by Giuliani when he claimed that the President did not love his country.