Say what you will about Dana Milbank, he has his moments. His column in today's Washington Post is a beautiful and inspiring on-the-ground report of an Obama rally in Richmond, Virginia that he uses to put another nail, perhaps the final one, in the entire McCain-Palin "pro-America" BS. And he eloquently shows the big difference between the positive, unifying mood of Obama rallies and the negative, divisive tone of McCain-Palin klan rallies. Even more, he demonstrates how in 2008 a positive new future for the Democrats, and our country, can be found in places like Richmond.
In his opening salvo, Milbank describes what he saw at yesterday's Obama rally in Richmond:
Two hours before Barack Obama's appearance at a campaign rally here Wednesday, they played the national anthem -- and people stood and sang. Some even put hands on hearts! In the first row sat a woman -- we'll call her Margaret the Corporate Trainer, in Joe-the-Plumber style -- wearing an actual flag pin on her shirt. "I'm American!" she said proudly. Really.
Then Obama took the stage and gave a stirring speech about those soldiers who "fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America! They haven't served a Blue America! They have served the United States of America!"
The audience took up a chant of "USA! USA!"
And these are Democrats?
Whereas at McCain-Palin ralies you have people shouting out "terrorist" and "kill him," at Obama rallies you have people shouting out "USA!" And who are supposed to be the patrotic ones again?
In fact, Milbank proceeds to incisively skewers the entire absurdity of the McCain's divisive tactics to split our country into the "real" America and the "faux" America. How can you tell the difference? Milbank explains it in McPalin-speak:
This scene did not fit neatly into the Sarah Palin view of the world. In that view, there is the "real America," the "hardworking, very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation," the place where "we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans." We can identify this part of America because they vote Republican.
By inference, there is also a faux America, where people are slothful, unpatriotic, anti-American, misanthropic, bad and cowardly. We know these areas because they vote Democratic.
By that definition, you can't get much more real-America than Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy and the political center of a state that hasn't voted for a Democrat for president in 44 years. And yet, a CNN poll released Wednesday found Obama leading Republican John McCain by 10 points in the Commonwealth.
Yes indeed, here in a part of the country that Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann would certainly approve (by their warped, divisive view) of being "pro-America" (as opposed to the part of the country where you go on $150,000 Neiman Marcus shopping sprees), Milbank found Democrats who were wildly supporting Barack Obama and proudly declaring their patriotic values. Milbank noted that the absurdity of Sarah Palin's "pro-America" bile even had Obama supporters turning it around into a joke and throwing it back in the Republicans' faces:
In recent elections, Democrats were cowed by challenges to their patriotism. But the crowd in Richmond, confident of an Obama victory, brushed off the Palin insult with laughter, a survey of the first row in the arena revealed.
"I'm a terrorist," said Kathleen the Food Vendor.
"We're probably communists," added John the Other Food Vendor, sitting with Kathleen. "I've been hating America ever since I was a young man."
"I was a baby terrorist," offered Terrence the Unemployed Guy.
(Note to McCain: Your entire "Joe the Plumber" line isn't working. In fact, it's become a running joke. Move on to the next cynical gimmick on your list.)
Milbank notes that while the Democrats are fighting back hard and successfully against McPalin's hateful anti-American tactics, it is actually the Republicans who are cowering these days in the face of these tactics, which are backfiring big time. It turns out that trying to accuse certain segments of the country of being more "real" and more "pro-America" than others isn't exactly the winning formula anymore.
If anything, it is those who have lobbed the anti-America charge who are in retreat. Palin herself apologized -- sort of -- for "the way it has come across." In Minnesota, GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann found her previously safe seat in jeopardy after going on MSNBC's "Hardball" to question Obama's patriotism and to urge media outlets to find other "anti-America" members of Congress. And Rep. Robin Hayes (R-N.C.) had to climb down from telling the crowd at a McCain rally that "liberals hate real Americans."
By contrast, the phony American folks at the Obama rally in Richmond -- those who got in before the arena reached capacity -- were in a celebratory mood. They danced, hands overhead, to Kanye West's "Touch the Sky," then to the party favorite "Celebrate," then, "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now."
Then Obama takes the stage in Richmond. I won't repeat too much of his inspiring words, since they have already been covered elsewhere on dkos, but I will say that they rang back to Obama's game-changing speech at the 2004 DNC convention. When you look at how John McCain's message changes every day, isn't it refreshing to see how Obama's uplifting message of hope for America has stayed consistently the same year after year? His speech was so good that I have to end with at least one excerpt:
"There are patriots who supported this war in Iraq; there are patriots who opposed it," he said. "There are patriots who believe in Democratic policies and those who believe in Republican policies. The men and women from Virginia and all across this country who serve on our battlefields, some are Democrats, some are Republicans, some are independents, but they have fought together and bled together, and some died together under the same proud flag."
In the heart of real America, the crowd gave Obama a cheer that did not seem at all phony.
If Obama manages to win the election, a big reason for the victory can be found by looking at what Milbank captured about Obama's Richmond rally. It will show that those who try to gain political advantage through a cynical, dishonest, divide-and-conquer strategy will be on the losing end of history. America is ready for a president who inspires ALL of us to be the best, most patriotic, most "real" Americans we can be. Barack Obama.
UPDATE:
Milbank also produced a cute video to accompany his story (H/T Hannah):