http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2015/02/22/obama-bush-patriotism-politicians-america-column/23842055/Unpatriotic voters elect unpatriotic leaders: Column
Glenn Harlan Reynolds 5:05 p.m. EST February 22, 2015
Should the electorate have to pass a patriotism test?
Last week, Rudy Giuliani mused about whether President Obama loves America, musings that produced immediate media backlash as beyond the pale. Some thought this was proof of Republican racism. (Never mind that Obama had accused President Bush of being "unpatriotic" back in 2008). Others gloated that Giuliani had "trolled" the media into spending five days debating Obama's patriotism.
My own take: Of course Obama loves America. After all, you always hurt the one you love.
But, seriously, why do we care? That is, why do we spend time looking at presidents — and others — based on irrational emotional attachments that are hard to assess, rather than looking at things like credentials that are easy to assess, and arguably more directly related to the job, than things like patriotism, or loyalty, or honesty? Why can't we just be rational about these things?
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