It's Saturday before the election and there was a stupid article (seems to be the type of articles being put out) about the McCain campaign, no, I should clarify it was McCain himself, who said that Obama wasn't proud of his country. McCain gave the tired statement that is always eaten like warm oatmeal by his constituents that America is a great country and he has always been proud of his country.

Well, being the son of an Admiral, married to a beer heiress, having 6+ homes and 10+ cars I can see where the American life is good for him. It could be argued that most people in America, if you just did a cursory look at the possible opportunities in other countries, probably fare better here than anywhere else in the world. So yes, all things being equal, we can be proud of being Americans.

However, I have grown tired of people, especially on the Republican side, who want to blindly believe America is right in all situations. America wasn't right with slavery, it wasn't right with Vietnam, it wasn't right with how we initially treated thousands of AIDS patients, it wasn't right with separate but equal. We have come a long way but we have simple minded people who are unwilling to believe things can be better, that even if we think we are the best country in the world, that we can do better.

That's been the problem with the McCain campaign and the Republican Party and their constituents. They have been willing to sit on their laurels, to say we have reached the pinnacle of what we can achieve as a nation. They are willing to blindly say we are the best, without even comparing us to other countries to see if we can learn from them. For years, just the mention of universal health care gave shouts of socialist from republicans and like minded people. They were unwilling to consider the options of countries in Europe that had universal coverage. Their plans may not have been perfect, but to investigate and improve on them would be better than the current system.

McCain, in the recent speech, said he never had to have America vindicate his faith. Again, from his status point, he wouldn't need it. He has the life of privilege, even for someone in America. As I pointed out in a recent article, my parents, who are in their 70s, lived with segregated fountains, sitting in the back of the bus, and having to eat in the back of the diner while white patrons sat in the front. They were proud of being Americans, but America wasn't proud of them. They weren't blind in their pride; they recognized they were better off here than anywhere else in the world, but the pain they got from this country, just because of the color of their skin, didn't mean they agreed with everything America did.

McCain and the Republicans continue in the waning days of the election to try and convince the little guy Obama is an agent of upheaval, that he isn't like them and doesn't love America the way they love America. Well, of course not. He isn't part of the class I'm in, or most Americans are in. Yes, we can beam with blind pride about being in a generous country like the US, and we can talk about the opportunities afforded to us, but it hasn't been without hard work and it hasn't been without strong resistance from a few in the high offices in the land wanted to keep people down.

Again, and hopefully for the last time this will need to be explained, but Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and millions of Americans are NOW proud of their country because of the dream we have been told about, about the hope and aspirations we have been told we can achieve in the this country, are within sight. Obama isn't a messiah, far from it, but he does show that the American dream is kicking and screaming to become a reality, which wasn't something evident years ago. For that, people are now proud of their country.