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July 2, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The hallmark of a person

Abe Novick: Up, up, and aliya

July 1, 2009

Rabbi Avi Shafran: The Road Taken

The Kosher Gourmet by Marialisa Calta: Get into the holiday spirit with these Star-Spangled desserts

June 30, 2009

Rabbi Binyomin Ginsberg: What makes a great parent?

Caroline B. Glick: Ideologue-in-Chief

June 29, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Beware of 'Caveat Emptor'

Steven Emerson: ACLU pushing for more money for Hamas

June 26, 2009

Rabbi Yoni Posnick: Learn the secret to a healthy marriage from a scriptural villain

Caroline B. Glick: Barack Obama vs. International Law

June 25, 2009

Rabbi Shimon Apisdorf: The Absurd Power of Truth

Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkle's strip: Everything's Relative

June 24, 2009

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Advancement of technology is a wake-up call for humanity

The Kosher Gourmet by Andrea Weigl: Summer on a stick: Making frozen treats can be easy, creative and fun

June 23, 2009

Martin M. Bodek: 'On Surnames': And so, We Begin

Caroline B. Glick: The Obama Effect

June 22, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Working for a corrupt firm

N. Richard Greenfield : Where are American Jews?

June 19, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Emotion v. intellect

Caroline B. Glick: Israel's rare opportunity

June 18, 2009

Jonathan Rosenblum: Sometimes it is more essential to define the nature of evil than good

Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkle's strip: Everything's Relative

June 17, 2009

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Language of Confusion

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Nothing pleases Dad more than a thick, juicy onion-smothered steak. Add home-Baked Potato Chips and …

June 16, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Career v. Careersism

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's losing streak and Israel

Richard Z. Chesnoff: ‘Palestinians’: Never Missing an Opportunity …

June 15, 2009

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu: How Judea and Samaria can become 'Palestine'

Daniel Pipes: Where Netanyahu's speech failed

June 12, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Some big thoughts about not acting so big

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's High Commissioner

June 11, 2009

Victor Davis Hanson: Our historically challenged President

Mitch Albom: Beware the True Believers

Lewis Grossberger: What we learn from the new Hitler photos

June 10, 2009

Mort Zuckerman: What Obama and his advisors won't -- or refuse to -- grasp about Israel and the Muslim world

The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky Lotsa pasta: Tips, techniques and (amazing) taste

June 9, 2009

Anne Bayefsky: Obama's stunning offense to Israel and the Jewish people

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: America's first Muslim president?

June 8, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Merchant must take responsibility for careless shopper?

Mark Steyn: A superpower that feeds on mediocrity cannot survive for long on leftovers from the past

Richard Z. Chesnoff: How do you say 'kumbaya' in Arabic?

June 5, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: In quest of spirituality

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's Arabian dreams

Charles Krauthammer: The Settlements Myth

June 4, 2009

Paul Greenberg: The War Comes to Little Rock

The Kosher Gourmet by Judy Hevrdejs: Splash it on! Tap your inner jazz musician and improvise when stirring up a vinaigrette

June 3, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. Should terrible teacher be exposed?

Jonathan Rosenblum: The Israel Lobby: Missing in Action

June 2, 2009

Dennis Prager: The Speech President Obama Won't Dare Give in Egypt

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Pressure on Israel raises war risk

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review July 4, 2008 / 1 Tamuz, 5768

Obama Protesteth Too Much

By David Limbaugh


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | Sen. Barack Obama spoke on the subject of patriotism this past week in an effort to undo some of the damage he has already inflicted on his own image — through his associations, his statements and policy positions — and to obscure his liberalism.


Liberals rightly feel defensive about their patriotism because they always seem to find themselves blaming the United States for this or that, exhorting us to be more like the "enlightened" nations of Europe or forever shouting that we are a "laughing stock" in the eyes of other nations.


It was not a conservative who wrote in an editorial this week: "Tuck the soaring speeches in a drawer for another time. This year, America doesn't deserve to celebrate its birthday. This Fourth of July should be a day of quiet and atonement. For we have sinned."


It was Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Chris Satullo, who, like so many liberals, is angry at America because he sees it as standing for torturing prisoners, imprisoning enemy combatants without hearings, rendition and other denials of human rights. According to Satullo, America isn't safer because our alleged abuses have "spawned new enemies by the thousands, made the jihadist rants ring true to so many ears. So put out no flags. Sing no patriotic hymns. We deserve no Fourth this year."


Sorry, but you just don't hear much of this type of rhetoric from conservatives. And Obama and the entire Democratic establishment know it.


When conservatives reflect on America, the first things that come to their minds are not exaggerated tales about waterboarding or deliberately hatched lies about the National Security Agency spying on innocent old American ladies.


They beam with pride that America is still the greatest, freest and most prosperous nation in the history of the world. They see it as a beneficent promoter and defender of what is right, not as a stingy, imperial bully.


Obama's patriotism problem isn't just related to his liberalism. He has earned demerits in this category in his own right by refusing to wear a flag pin and foolishly — and defiantly — trying to justify it. Also, there are the statements of his wife that she is proud of America for the first time in her life, his associations with William Ayers and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his contemptuous assessment of small-town America, and his typically liberal appeasement and blame-America-first orientation.


Doubtlessly realizing all this, Obama delivered his patriotism speech in Independence, Mo. — the heart of that small-town America he consummately insulted and alienated. While I disagree with much of what he said in his speech, my main problem is that his words were carefully designed to mask the extent of his extreme liberalism.


His description of patriotism wasn't entirely objectionable. But as with all of Obama's flowery orations, we should look beyond the rhetoric. What we really ought to be asking is whether he qualifies as a patriot under his own definition of the term.


He said: "Patriotism is always more than just loyalty to a place on a map or a certain kind of people. Instead, it is also loyalty to America's ideals — ideals for which anyone can sacrifice, or defend, or give their last full measure of devotion."


Yes, but do Obama-style liberals really get warm and fuzzy over America's ideals? Do they really share the predominant worldview of the Founders of this nation, as Obama implies?


America's Founders believed that owning firearms is a necessary and indispensable personal right. They did not consider abortion a sacred right of women. They did not oppose capital punishment and certainly didn't intend to outlaw it in the Eighth Amendment. They would have been horrified with the liberals' idea that we should fight wars through the courts instead of on battlefields and confer constitutional rights on noncitizen enemy combatants outside the territorial jurisdiction of this country. They did not believe in suppressing Christian expression or symbols in the public square or in selectively honoring free speech and censoring that which certain elites and malcontents consider to be politically incorrect or to be threatening to their liberal mainstream media monopoly. Their instinct was not to side with hostile nations or surrender our national sovereignty. They didn't believe that appellate judges should make law. Even the most radical federalists among them would have been mortified at the evisceration of states' rights that has occurred under expansive activist interpretations of the Commerce Clause and the use of the tax code to punish producers and radically redistribute wealth to the point that almost half the people don't pay income taxes.


Ask yourself: When it comes to his patriotism, does Obama protest too much?

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David Limbaugh, a columnist and attorney practicing in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Comment by clicking here.


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