Hello, everyone. This is my first diary on dailykos. I'm stepping out of the comment threads with something in my hot little hand: the map of the march route through Germany of the 355th Infantry Regiment where Obama's great-uncle served in WWII.
Here is why I'm bringing it out.
As some of you may already know, I'm a Russian emigrant supporting Obama to win - albeit only monetarily and morally, since I'm not a citizen yet and ineligible to vote. A sizeable part of my daily surfing is thus spent on Russian blogs and political blogs. Sometimes, the two coincide.
Ever since Obama's Auschwitz-Buchenwald debacle, the Russian blogosphere has been abuzz. While many don't consider the name-confusion 'gaffe' much to write home about, there are those using the incident as an excuse to cry havoc and let slip the dogs of mockery, indignation, anti-Americanism and outright racism.
"Obama repeats the tradition of illiteracy among American presidents in the matters concerning the Second World War. To him, who liberated Buchenwald and who Auschwitz makes no difference..." - alexsas2645 {trans. mine}
"OBAMA GOT NAMED 'BARACK' IN HONOR OF AUSCHWITZ. As we now learn, his uncle liberated Auschwitz. Thus another myth of Soviet historians is overturned: that Auschwitz had been librated by the Soviet Army. Or perhaps by a Siberian Negro." - ivan-ghandhi {trans. mine}
"...Candidate Obama is either a liar or a cretin - or both, as with Bush." - utrambovshik {trans. mine}
"Eh, what else is to be expected from an ameri-nigger?" - ddarkflame {trans. mine}
Etc. etc. In that manner and spirit, ad nauseam.
Offering counter-arguments in such cases is a hopeless undertaking. Most of these comments are not made out of deep love of factual truth or even a desire to tease a foreign politician - they stem from unabashed racism and a xenophobia whose roots arguably reach down into the proverbial "Tartar Yoke" of the 13th-15th centuries. Sometimes, though, counter-arguments are not needed at all.
Someone named ghoort has attempted to dismantle Obama's claim first by failing to find the correct Charles T. Payne in the World War II Kansas Veterans Index, then, when the mistake was pointed out to him, by stating that, according to "American war historians," the 355th division where Obama claims his relative served has not in fact been to Ohrdurf: it was the "patrol of the 354th division" that had "dropped by." {trans. mine}
One day, you too might find yourselves facing down a similar sort of claim from a froth-lipped detractor: namely, that even if there had been a Charles T. Payne with the 355th regiment of the 89th Infantry Division, and even if he were avuncularly related to Obama, it doesn't matter, because the 355th regiment had nothing to do with the liberation of Ohrdurf, and Obama's trousers are, therefore, smoldering suspiciously. If and when that day comes, just direct their attention here and ask them to follow with their finger until they find the words "Ohrdurf Prison Camp" and "6 April."
355th Infantry Regiment - March Through Germany. 355th Infantry Regiment, Col. Jesse T. Harris Commanding [89th Infantry Division] 1945. Scan of copy from the estate of Dr. Keith Young, University of Texas Department of Geosciences. Available for public viewing on-line in the Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection.
Naturally, if this map has already been brought to public attention either here on dailykos or on another site, I'll gladly cede priority of discovery. :)
Afternoon and good luck.